Lanesboro School welcomed three new elementary teachers this year, Alysha Mohs, third grade; Savanna Frie also teaching third grade; and Gracie Kupietz will be teaching second grade.
Alysha Mohs
Alysha Mohs came to Lanesboro as a veteran teacher; until recently she taught third grade at PEM and had worked a year at a Title I paraprofessional at St. Charles.
Alysha grew up in Rushford and attended R-P, graduating in 2001. She earned her elementary teaching degree from WSU in 2006.
Mohs chose teaching because she enjoyed working with children and felt she could be a positive influence for her students. The biggest challenge this year for her will be learning to adjust to a new district, its routines and curriculum after spending 17 years at PEM.
She is looking forward to making new connections with the staff, students and families in Lanesboro. Her goal is to “appreciate each day with the third grade students and help them have a successful year.”
Alysha will be living in Rushford with her husband Ben and their son Eli. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family at the lake and on the Mississippi River as well as gardening, hiking and watching the MN Twins and the Vikings play ball.
Savanna Frie
Savanna Frie always wanted to be a teacher. She chose to teach elementary education because she feels, “Helping young ones to learn is SO rewarding!”
Savanna just graduated from UW-River Falls; she student-taught fourth grade in River Falls before accepting the position to teach third grade in Lanesboro.
Frie thinks her biggest challenge this year will be finding what works for her as a brand new teacher who has never had a class of her own before.
She is looking forward to being a part of the community and helping her students learn and grow. ”I want to inspire and motivate my students, build strong relationships and have fun!” Frie answered when asked about her goals for the year.
Hobbies that Savanna enjoys include playing the piano, writing, and baking. She has an older brother and sister, a sister-in-law and a pet cat named Eliana. Savanna will be living in Grand Meadow, Minn.
Savanna will be teaching alongside Gracie Kupietz; the two new teachers graduated from high school together and now will begin their teaching careers together in Lanesboro!
Gracie Kupietz
Gracie Kupietz will be teaching second grade. She says her passion for becoming a teacher started when she herself was an elementary teacher. She loved learning as well as helping others learn as well. She chose elementary education since she has always enjoyed all subjects.
As a high schooler, Gracie became a classroom assistant at the elementary. Gracie graduated from Cochrane-Fountain City High School and attended WSU. She earned her bachelor’s degree in K-6 elementary education with a minor in middle school (grades 5-8) social studies. Lanesboro is her first teaching assignment.
Gracie will be living in the Winona area; she wants to be close to her family and friends and enjoys Winona for its beauty. She has a boyfriend and they have a 9-month-old Australian Shepherd toy fox terrier mix puppy named Charlie.
The hobby Gracie most enjoys is singing. She has been singing since she was 11 and has sang across the country. She’s been involved in honors choirs around the Midwest and was one of 400 selected from over 20,000 global auditions to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City when she was 14. Other hobbies for Gracie include playing piano, crocheting, rollerblading and biking.
Kupietz knows that her biggest challenge this year will be to realize that not everything will go as planned. As a perfectionist, she is often hard on herself when that happens. Her solution is to keep a journal to reflect on her triumphs and think about how she can improve when things go poorly.
Kupietz is enthusiastically looking forward to becoming part of the Lanesboro School community. She wants to learn as much as she can to become an effective teacher and help her students learn and have fun!
The staff has been “incredibly supportive and welcoming” as Kupietz began her career at Lanesboro. Kupietz declared, “I am very excited to join this amazing community and can’t wait to learn more about what Lanesboro and Fillmore County have to offer!”
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