Life’s been a bit of a whirlwind for Stefanie Ask since learning that she got a teaching job in Coupeville.

She and her husband got the news in May then proceeded to sell their house in Sitka, Alaska, pack up virtually all of their belongings for a trip by barge to Seattle, then sent their car by ferry to Prince Rupert, B.C.

That was followed by a 1,000-mile drive to Grays Harbor County so they could live temporarily with family in Hoquiam while house hunting on Whidbey.

They finally purchased a house on five acres on South Whidbey, where her husband, Cassidy Patnoe, grew up.

“We were living out of a backpack,” Ask said at a new teachers orientation in Coupeville Monday.

“It’s been something else.”

Ask, who’ll teach English at Coupeville Middle School/High School, was glad to be standing in one place Monday, joining five other teachers and one administrator new to Coupeville schools this fall.

Although school doesn’t officially start until Tuesday, Sept. 6, it felt like it started Monday for Ask and the others, who were introduced then listened to Superintendent Jim Shank talk about Coupeville schools.

The middle school/high school is welcoming four new teachers — Susan Johnson (STEAM), Wanda McDonald (Spanish), Kathryn Zielinski (special education) and Ask — and one new administrator, assistant principal Melissa Rohr. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math.

New to the elementary school are teachers Chad Rickner (physical education) and Holly Bailey (preschool).

This week has been devoted to teacher training, preparing for the arrival of students and learning new faces.

McDonald, from Nashville, Tenn., moved to Whidbey a year ago. She is entering her 18th year of teaching Spanish.

Johnson spent the past 19 years teaching media, graphic design and film at Renton High School and was the Technology Department Chair for the past 16 years.

She said last year she started working on a science endorsement because she wanted to integrate technology and movement as a delivery system for science.

Zielinski also is coming from the Renton School District, where she taught special education for five years.

She is entering her seventh year of teaching, starting in a small district north of Spokane, which she calls home.

“I am super excited to be out of the city and back to my country roots,” Zielinski wrote in an email.

Rickner, originally from Oklahoma, has been teaching for 17 years, all but one of them overseas, including nine years in China.

He is married to Kathryn Rickner, the special education teacher at Coupeville Elementary.

Bailey isn’t traveling as far as most of the others.

She taught Life Skills at Oak Harbor High School for three years before taking nearly four years off from teaching to start a family.