by Journalism Student, Jasmine T.
Mrs. Agnes Koehn is New Life’s newest second grade teacher. With many years of elementary teaching experience, she is passionate about educating kids and brings a lot of knowledge into the classroom.
Mrs. Koehn grew up in Woodbury, Minnesota. She said, “I had always known of New Life because I lived so close, but I never went here or had any connection to it.” Mrs. Koehn later attended Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois to study Early Childhood Education. Mrs. Koehn was originally planning on becoming a pediatrician but realized that teaching was “where her heart is” when she took an education class in high school. She said, “I realized that I didn’t want to see sick kids all the time, but that I wanted to make personal connections with them for a long period of time. Teaching really fills my heart. I love just helping my students grow and succeed every day.”
One of Mrs. Koehn’s students, Marcus Kane, said, “Mrs. Koehn is a great teacher. She teaches us lots of things and when she teaches us it is fun.” He shared that Mrs. Koehn does engaging activities and that he enjoys being in her class.
It has been a long road leading Mrs. Koehn to New Life. She has taught at St. Ambrose, Visitation, in Eden Prairie, and in Phoenix, Arizona. At these schools she not only taught her class, but she also worked in the library and long-term subbed. She said, “When I had kids, I transitioned out of teaching full-time and did a lot of substitute teaching and long-term subbing. When my youngest daughter turned one, I went back to work full-time working in preschools.”
Mrs. Koehn has three kids. Her oldest daughter, Mackenzy, is a freshman, and her youngest daughter, Elanor, is a kindergartener – both at New Life. Her son Joseph is a 6th grader at St. Thomas Academy.
I have loved my transition into New Life so far. Being in a Christian school where faith is actually our focus is amazing.
Mrs. Koehn
Mrs. Koehn shared that she was not expecting to teach 2nd grade. She said, “I was working in the library at Visitation, and I knew that I wanted to get into the classroom again. I was really hoping to work at a Christian school, and so when my husband and I were searching for jobs and saw that New Life was hiring, I was so excited!”
Mrs. Koehn originally applied for the kindergarten teacher position. She interviewed over the summer, but it was right after the kindergarten position was filled. Mrs. Koehn said, “I was bummed, but I just assumed that it was God’s timing and that it wasn’t meant to be. Mr. Palkki told me a moment after that there was a second grade position open and asked me if I was interested.”
When hiring Lower School teachers, Lower School principal Dan Palkki looks for future staff members that embody the “Three Loves” which include a love for God, a love for students, and a love for teaching. He said, “It didn’t take me long to recognize that Mrs. Koehn has her ‘Three Loves’ in the correct order, making her an excellent fit for our Lower School team at NLA. We are blessed to have her!”
Mrs. Koehn interviewed with the second-grade team soon after her phone call and said that she “knew it would be a great fit.” She accepted the job offer and began preparing for the upcoming school year.
Second grade teacher, Kalley Lundberg said, “Mrs. Koehn is full of life and love for her students, and it is evident she lives her life for Jesus! It has been so fun to be her teammate and get ideas from her. She is such an answer to prayer.”
Mrs. Koehn feels impacted by her time at New Life so far. She said, “Being in a place where faith is the number one priority is so unique and so amazing.” She added, “Starting teacher workshop with worship was something I never experienced. Praising God first spoke to my heart, and I knew that this is where I am meant to be.”
