The summer after our junior year of college, Luke proposed! So, in 2020, Luke and I graduated college, got married, and began our first year of teaching! It was a wild year, but we wouldn't trade it for anything.

Luke loves his time teaching and coaching here at Osceola, and he is looking forward to another great year as the head football and head track and field coach.

I had a wonderful first year of teaching at East Butler Public Schools teaching kindergarten at the Dwight elementary school and serving as an assistant cross country and track coach. It has been special returning to Osceola and teaching students in my home elementary school. I am looking forward to continue to learn and grow with my new students this year!

This past year was a whirlwind with our lives changing in many ways! Last summer, we found out that we were expecting a little one due in January! We had Jessie Rae on January 16th and we can't imagine our lives without her. She has been such a trooper going along with us on all of our adventures. She is the first grandchild on both sides of our family, so she gets lots of love!

I had one final semester left to complete in the spring to earn my masters degree through UNK for Early Childhood Curriculum and Instruction. It was very different and hard to complete my final coursework with a little one to take care of, but I pushed through and graduated from UNK last May! I learned SO much to enhance my teaching and improve my classroom to better meet the needs of my early childhood students. I look forward to continuing to modify and improve my teaching in the years to come!

My parents and most of our family still live in Osceola. My sister Mollie graduated from Bryan Health College in Lincoln, and recently moved back to Osceola to start her nursing career at York Hospital. Mollie is also engaged to her fiance, Kjell! My brother Thad graduated in the spring from Concordia with a major in Secondary Physical Education. He accepted a teaching and coaching position at Maywood-Hayes Center Public Schools. He is pretty far west from us now, but he is enjoying getting to know the kids and the community in Maywood.

After we got married, Luke and I moved into a house in Osceola and that is where we plan to stay for a long time! We are enjoying our new life as a family of three, and we had the best summer yet! We love this community and now that we are both living and working here, we wouldn't want it any other way.

Here is a picture of me getting ready to head to Jeffrey Elementary for my first day of kindergarten, and another picture of me riding on the firetruck as a kindergartener at Homecoming. It means so much to me to be able to share these same special moments with my students, years later.

It's good to be home! Go bulldogs!