In education, many who take on the role of molding students have a passion for what they teach.
Whether it is the love of a quadratic equation or the excitement of dissecting a frog, teachers select subjects they enjoy.
That is the case with new RVHS English educator Julia Jergenson.
Unlike those working with numbers and scientific methods those who teach English, especially literature, have an avenue through which they can express that passion to the student. It is the beauty of the spoken or written word.
From the lines of a Shakespearean play to the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson, those who enter the world of the English class are exposed to the art of communication.
Jergenson, who grew up on southeast Minnesota in the town of Houston and graduated in 2005 from LaCrescent High School, knew early on she was going to be a teacher.
“I come from a long line of family who worked in education,” she said. “I guess you could say I was drawn to it.”
Jergenson said she enjoys teaching people the things she loves, and while she initially thought about teaching history, deep down she knew English education was her calling.
“I have a passion for English,” she said. “I just know this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Having graduated from St. Mary’s University in Winona earlier this year, Jergenson is in her first teaching job.
Her challenge is finding ways to keep the interest of students in Grades 9-11 as they study their grammar, write research papers and read things they might not, at first, understand.
