Ms. Havens

Our new FCS teacher at Ames High is fond of meaningful and inspiring tattoos! Ms. Havens has three tattoos; the first one she got is behind her ankle bone, which is a cross, and the bible verse Philippians 4:13, she said that this particular bible verse motivates and inspires her every day. Her second tattoo is a small heart on her collarbone; she got this matching tattoo with her best friend of many years. The heart symbolizes their strong friendship that has lasted throughout the years. Her third and favorite tattoo is on her ribs, which is glyph shaped. The three triangles mean to learn, create, and explore, which describe Ms. Haven’s perspective on education and what she tries to do as a teacher. In the future, Ms. Havens would love to get more tattoos!

Mr. Carico

The ink on his leg means more than just a simple art statement to Mr. Carico. It is a symbol of happiness dedicated to his son, Cameron. He has a large cardinal with a baseball bat tattooed on the side of his right calf. He is proud to show it and talk about it because it resembles the happy memories that he spent with his son watching baseball. Their whole family spent a lot of time together cheering for the baseball team, the Cardinals, while Cameron was growing up. It was so special to all of them that each family member has a tattoo of a cardinal or is planning on getting one in the future. Mr. Carico got the tattoo when his son passed away so he can always have a happy memory with him. “A cardinal is also a bird from heaven,” said Mr. Carico. “So it has a double meaning to it.”

Mrs. Jurgensen

She likes to get tattoos to resemble all of the best moments in her life. She has four at the moment but would love to get more when the opportunity comes along. When she looks at each of them, she is immediately transported to a special time in her life that made her happy. The first one she received the tattoo of Grover from Sesame Street on her hip and it represents her happy memories from her senior year in college and afternoons with her friends. She next had NSC tattooed on her to represent her and her friends watch basketball games at North Carolina and having a lot of fun together. Her third tattoo is three footprints with her kids’ initials beside them to represent her family. Mrs. Jurgensen’s last and most recent is the most sentimental. “When people see the W, they think it’s just about the cubs winning,” said Mrs. Jurgensen. “But it is really more than that.” She got that tattoo after she and her sister were cleaning out their mother’s house after she had passed away from Alzheimer’s. Mrs. Jurgensen’s mother did love the cubs, but she got the tattoo to represent her mom’s attitude of making the most of everything and winning every day. Mrs. Jurgensen aspires to live more like that and all of her tattoos are little happy reminders of memories that she’ll have forever.

Mr. Todd

Some people get tattoos to celebrate a happy moment, an achievement or to remember someone. And then we have people who get tattoos just because they turned 18. Mr. Todd might just be one of them. He has a tattoo that is a combination of a yin and yang symbol, a cancer sign, and a peace symbol. Mr. Todd was 18 when he got the tattoo, right after high school. He describes it as a spontaneous decision that he made along with his friends from school. He also said that he doesn’t regret getting it at all but considers it an impulsive decision. “But, everyone makes mistakes right?”, concluded Mr. Todd.