Rushford-Peterson welcomed a total of seven new teachers to its teaching staff this fall. The new teachers are: Lindsey Olson, K-8 counselor and district assessment doordinator; Emily Wahlberg, first grade; Ethan Jacobson, MS/HS business; Sophia Westcott, SPED; Kora Miller, kindergarten; Madlyn Ripka, MS/HS band director; Nathan Whitacre, MS/HS SPED. Here’s your chance to learn a little about each of them.
Lindsey Olson, the district’s new K-8 counselor and district assessment coordinator, grew up in Preston, Minn. She attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and then went to Winona State for school counseling. She has worked at both Chatfield and St. Charles as a school counselor.
Lindsey is excited to work with a team of Student Support Services to help the students at R-P to learn and grow. She chose counseling because she’d always loved working with children and felt counseling would be a great way to get to know kids and help them.
Lindsey loves counseling because in working with kids on academics, college and career planning and personal and social growth, she gets to know the whole child as she works with kids in classrooms, small groups and one-on-one.
Olson and her family live in St.Charles. She and her husband Matt have three children – Maya, 9; Maisie, 7; and Avery, 5. In her spare time she enjoys reading, volleyball, swimming, hiking and being with her kids.
Olson feels that one her biggest challenges as a new teacher at R-P will be learning all the new names and faces. To help her in her goal to learn the students, she is doing Minute Meetings with all of the 5-8th graders to learn about each student, and will be in 3rd-5th grade classrooms weekly.
Lindsey is looking forward to using “an AWESOME kindness curriculum” that they are introducing this year. Students will get lessons in kindness including the categories of respect, responsibility, courage, integrity, inclusiveness and caring. The hope is that kindness will be the norm at R-P.
Lindsey is happy to be at R-P and appreciates the warm welcome she has received from everyone in and outside of the school.
Emily Walberg will be teaching first grade at R-P. She is a graduate of Mounds View High School and grew up in Shoreview, Minn., (a suburb North of St. Paul). She earned her undergraduate degree at Winona State University. Emily taught kindergarten for three years at Jefferson Elementary in Winona before coming to R-P.
Emily feels “so blessed to have landed at Rushford-Peterson.” She said she already feels at home at R-P. “I can tell this is a community that really cares about their children and schools!”
According to Emily she has always loved being around kids and enjoys how creative and fun they are. She is interested in child development and finds it rewarding “to see the visible growth students make, especially in their younger years!”
Emily says she’s excited for the “newness of it all” as she joins the staff at R-P. She looks forward to being at a PreK-12 school and feels it will be a tight-knit community that she will enjoy.
Her goal is to get to know not only her students, their families and the staff, but also the entire community! “I know that the entire community is what makes a school great!” Emily declared.
Emily will be living in Winona. Her parents still live in the Twin Cities and her sister lives on the East Coast with her fiancé. Emily jokes that the commute from Winona this winter may be one of her challenges this year.
In her spare time, Emily enjoys hiking, crafting, reading and being with her family.
Ethan Jacobson is the new MS/HS Business Education teacher at R-P. He chose to get into teaching in part because of his own experience with teachers in high school who made school engaging and interesting as well as the need for more business teachers in the country.
Ethan is from Caledonia. He began WSU in 2020, planning to earn a degree in Business Administration. In the summer of 2021, he decided he wanted to become a teacher and make a difference in student lives. He switched to Business Education 5-12 and graduated in 2024 from WSU. This is his first teaching assignment.
Jacobson feels the topics he will be teaching such as personal finance and careers are important topics that his students will encounter and need in their own lives.
He feels his biggest challenge is pacing and learning what does and doesn’t work. He is trying to find a balance between teaching and assessing students. Jacobson is looking forward to working with the “amazing” R-P staff who have already helped him so much, providing tips and tricks.
Jacobson’s goals for the year include developing a curriculum which engages students and getting to know his students and coworkers better.
Ethan will be living in Winona; his family consists of his father Kevin, his mother Erica, and his brother Jermiah who all live in Caledonia.
In his spare time, Ethan enjoys cooking and trying new recipes. He enjoys reading and playing video games which he uses as a way to unwind and relate to his students.
Sophia Wescott will be teaching elementary special education at R-P. Sophia decided to go into special education because she has a brother with Down Syndrome who went through the public school system; this showed her the inner workings of school systems and services. She said, “It seemed like a natural next step to be the one offering those services!”
Westcott graduated from WSU in the the spring of 2024. This is her first teaching job.
Westcott sees that a challenge for her will be “keeping a positive classroom environment when doing undesirable tasks.” Her goals are to create and maintain a safe and loving space for her students. Westcott is looking forward to working with all of the kids an building connections with the rest of the staff. She wants people to know that she will be her students’ “biggest cheerleader in school!”
Sophia is living in Winona; she loves the community and all the things to do there. Sophia loves to camp, hike, draw and cook and bake.
Her family consists of her parents, brother, a long-term boyfriend and her cat.
Kora Miller is R-P’s new kindergarten teacher. Kora loves to work with children; she is amazed daily to see the energy and creativity of kindergartners. Her goal is to nurture her students’ creativity and foster a love of learning as she teaches through discovery. She was drawn to teaching because she knew she could make a difference as a teacher. “I want to support children in any way I can!”
Kora attended WSU and earned an elementary education degree with an emphasis in early childhood. While attending WSU, Kora worked as a paraprofessional in La Crescent; she student-taught in Houston.
Kora lives in La Crescent; her family is composed of her parents and a little sister who is in second grade.
Hobbies Kora enjoys in her spare time include spending time outdoors going hiking and on the river. She enjoys reading and spending time with her family and friends.
Miller feels she will have a never ending list of things to do this year. She knows she will need to make sure she has everything done for school each day, but she also knows she will prioritize her students and their learning.
Miller is looking forward to meeting many new people; she’s excited about getting to teach her “wonderful students!”
She is grateful to have her first teaching job in “such a supportive community!” She declares, “Growing up in a small town myself, I have seen the impact the community can make in creating a wonderful school!”
Nathan Whitacre is R-P’s new high school special education teacher. Nathan graduated high school in Algona, Iowa in 2002. He decided to earn a social studies degree and attended school at the University of Northern Iowa and Western Governors University. For many years he worked as a special education paraprofessional in Chatfield and St. Charles in both high school and elementary. He decided to get his special education teaching licensure and returned to school.
Whitacre chose to become a special education teacher because he wanted to continue to make a difference in many students’ lives. He enjoys watching their confidence grow as they overcome educational barriers.
Nathan enjoys coaching football. “Teaching students life skills through football is one of my passions!” he declared. He also enjoys traveling and learning about the cultures and community of various areas.
Nathan has been married 12 years; his wife provides him with support and stability according to Nathan. The couple has twins who are in fourth grade and a kindergartner. They live in rural Peterson.
Whitacre is looking forward to getting to know the staff and students of R-P while acknowledging that it will be a challenge to have “enough time in the day” to get to know everyone! His goal is to provide his students with a welcoming environment that provides “tremendous growth in their abilities to become the best version of themselves that they can be!”`
Madelyn Ripka, R-P’s new band director, has always wanted to be a teacher from little on. At first she thought she’d be a geology teacher, but she changed to a band director when she was in high school when she found out that band was more than just playing notes on the page – rather it was the interactions with people and making music was fun and pushed her to be a better musician and, as a result, a better human being.
Ripka attended North Dakota State University in Fargo, N. Dak. This is her first teaching position. Ripka foresees that getting to know the school culture, the traditions of R-P’s band program, and the ability levels of her students will be her biggest challenge this year. Her goal is to help her students transition smoothly from their previous band director to her. She looks forward to helping her students grow as musicians and teaching them to have fun in band. Ripka says, “Music without fun is boring!”
She is looking forward to making connections with all her students and helping them grow as musicians. Ripka will be teaching grades five through seniors in the R-P band program.
Madelyn will be living in Winona; her mom and dad and younger brother all live in the Twin Cities. In her spare time, Madelyn loves to read, knit, crochet, cook, bake and just hang out with her friends and enjoy life!
Madelyn shared that she is really excited to be at R-P and can’t wait to get to know the community!
Good luck in your first year teaching at R-P, teachers! Welcome to Rushford-Peterson!
Leave a Reply