Mr. Mulholland – 55 Years in a School District

By Stephanie Derby

It is simple math – 13 years as a student plus 42 years as an employee equals 55.  Mr. Scott Mulholland retires this May from Kingsland Public Schools after working for the district in some capacity since 1982.  He’s been a paraprofessional, a dean of students, an advisor, and a teacher… to name a few. He’s also a graduate of Spring Valley school and spent grades kindergarten to 12 there.

Originally, Mulholland obtained a business degree from Winona State University, however after connections at the Spring Valley Hospital where Mulholland worked part time throughout college, Dr. Dornack hired him for Spring Valley Public Schools.  He worked as a paraprofessional there for 10 years, often working with Mark Bailey who was a first-year teacher.  They were two “20-somethings” figuring out the world of education. After obtaining another degree from Winona State – a teaching degree – he shifted to being a full-time teacher. Some of the first classes he taught were eighth grade geography and a TV production class and, believe it or not, even a grammar class!

Over the years, he taught grade levels sixth grade to seniors. He even taught in multiple buildings! He taught at the Kingsland Middle School in Wykoff for many years, at the Alternate School in Spring Valley and then at the junior/senior high school in Spring Valley – his most recent classroom home.  Two of those buildings are no longer owned by the district. To say that Mulholland has seen changes is an understatement.

Mulholland was also a student at Spring Valley Public Schools so his teachers later became his colleagues.  People such as Shirley Gangstad, Charlie Reps, Stu Gross, Caryl Sharp, Fran Johnson, Ray Pothoff, Lew Flattum, Karen Cleveland, Don Rose, Mark Sonnenburg and Rick Ascheman were fondly recalled by Mulholland.

Mulholland was also a dean of students for a few years to help out the administrative team at the middle school after Rita Hartert retired.  Jim Hecimovich was hired around the same time for elementary principal and Mulholland worked with him and Darrin Strosahl, principal at the high school.  When Ray Pothoff retired, and the middle school and elementary principal positions were being combined, Mulholland gladly returned to teaching in Pothoff’s position.  He shared that he always wanted to be in the classroom.  Even as a dean of students, he still taught one class.

While working at the middle school, Mulholland liked creative projects that involved the students.  For sixth graders, there was the Archaeological Dig, an activity that coincided with the Minnesota History unit.  After learning about the state, and after studying Native Americans, Mulholland would send the students out on a “dig,”  The preparation had to be done months before.  Mulholland enlisted help from his brother Steve, who was an  archaeologist at the Duluth Archaeological Center (DAC). Steve Mulholland visited Mr. Mulholland’s classes and even showed the students how to throw an atlatl. Flint knapping was another subject and demonstration that was part of the unit.  Students learned how arrowheads and spear points were made. For the outside dig – where Scott and Steve had pre-buried items that were authentic and borrowed from DAC – students “unearthed” some pottery was thousands of years old and had been made by  Native Americans.

The students would also measure depths, plot their finds on a grid, and use bags and screeners to push the soil through.  Often, they found junk. But then, someone would find something authentic and real!  They even found pieces of a pot that could be put together somewhat to tell an ancient tale. Mr. Mulholland would bury the items on Wykoff school property in the summer. He would spend hours and days planting the items for the students to find later.  Mulholland can still recall the beaming faces of those students who would shout, “I found something – I really did!”

Mr. Mulholland also created the Gettysburg Project for the seventh graders – even though students in other grades often volunteered to help out. The seventh grade students studied the history of the Civil War and then brought pieces from the unit to life!  Students were divided into the North and the South.  Battles were reenacted using water balloon catapults.  There was also an information center, multiple booths, and artwork that supported the information.  Mulholland remembers Pokorney creating a mural of generals, Oeltjen constructing a model of an ironclad, Freimuth building a replica of Andersonville Prison.  Mr. Jeff Thauwald volunteered as a guest and became President Lincoln and read the Gettysburg Address.  The public was welcome to attend the day-long activity to see the culmination of learning.

There were camps, reenactments, students eating hardtack, students singing songs, and students sharing their knowledge.  Bobbie Erickson was a colleague of Mulholland’s who supported this in- depth project.  Students also made haversacks – with help from DeDe Marzolf – in both blue and gray. The students journaled about the Civil War as each student adopted a character and profession, and they even wrote letters to “home” if they were soldiers off at battle. As  Mulholland was cleaning out his classroom and reminiscing, he found some of the haversacks, and he wondered what he should do with them.  They were so symbolic of hard work, learning, and pride.

Mulholland’s creativity did not end there, the Rainforest project was a favorite of many eighth graders. The English teacher, Bobbie Erickson, and Mulholland (Social Studies) worked together.  Students learned about the rainforest through lessons and stories.  They learned about climate, destruction, and the importance the rainforest played.  Then, they role-played in teams. There were cattle ranchers, miners, environmentalists, indigenous people, a United Nations committee to keep peace, and oil companies. There were five pieces of land for sale in the rainforest. The ranchers tried to purchase them, the indigenous people did  not want them sold. The culmination of the project was the building of the rainforest.

The rainforest itself was constructed by the students and took over the entire stage in the old Wykoff gym.  Everything was created by the students – many hours spent after school.  There were trees, vines, snakes, plants, macaws, and even leopards.  Sometimes nuns showed up, a shaman made an appearance, and an “Indiana Jones” type character showed up with his classic fedora style hat and a whip (it was plastic).  The students always did their research and many even dressed in character with cowboy hats as a rancher, or professional dress if a member of the United Nations.  Eventually, all five parcels of rainforest land were purchased.  Often money was pooled, sometimes people were fined, and many alliances were formed. The rainforest “existed” for about a week and then, it was torn down.  Once, when Mulholland was visiting a local business, the customers included two past students of his.  They felt compelled to approach him and reminisce about how they, as ranchers, were pretty sneaky in their purchasing scheme for the Rainforest Project!

Some students also might remember Mulholland Technologies. Another eighth grade project. It involved learning about Latin America as students were partnered up and assigned to a Latin American country where their job as representatives was to try and lure Mulholland Technologies to set up shop in their country. Mulholland Technologies was a made up bioplastic company – make plastic that was biodegradable. Only one country could get the company. Presentations were made, business letters and emails were exchanged, there were many questions that needed to be answered, and even powerpoint presentations about what climates and environments were like in their countries.  They needed to research adverse situations including the weather conditions. Students had to select a specific location in their country.  Flags of the countries were used and even some traditional foods were tried. “I probably wouldn’t get away with serving that food anymore.  We made some of it in school. Some of it I made and brought in,” shared Mulholland.

Once Mulholland moved to the Spring Valley building and began teaching sophomores, he created The Decades Project.  His most recent project has now been happening as a public event for over a decade itself!  There are project managers, booths, decorations, presentations, and interviews.  Each 10th grader must present to Mr. Mulholland – outside of classroom time – their posters on their individual topics and be prepared to answer any question he might have about their decade.  That piece of the project seems to be the most nerve-wracking.

The fun parts include dressing up in vintage clothing or costumes to fit the decades, and showing off all of their hard work as the public is invited in to “tour” their decades.  Each decade is showcased in a booth.  About five students prepare each booth. As the booths are built, lava lamps, retro stereos, Cabbage Patch dolls, military hats, and other antique items arrive. Sometimes the students perform dances from the decade, other years they dressed up as favorite snacks, and one year they even created life-size versions of board games.

The work going into The Decades Project happens slowly throughout the year. The decades are studied, tests and quizzes are taken, snacks are sampled, and essays are written.  The “deadlines” are shared with the students within the first few weeks of school.  The Decades Project has become a rite of passage for 10th graders.  Once it is over, the students “scare” the younger students with “horror stories” of how hard the project is, and yet, they brag to others and reminisce years later about how much fun it was and some of the new skills they learned.

Additionally, Muholland has also been an advisor for Student Council, chaperoned winter survival skills outings, coached students on canoeing as they floated down the Root River, and has helped grill hotdogs in conjunction with Whitewater trips. He also survived the high ropes course at Eagle Bluff, too many Proms to count, and roller coaster rides at Valley Fair with students who were scared to “ride the big one.”

Mulholland also started a chess club that was held after school. Chess champions could earn ribbons.  Although,  for many years, the greatest challenge to overcome was beating Mr. Mulholland, right Jesse Grant?  Mr. Mulholland claims he can’t spell very well, even though he organized and led the middle school spelling bee for a few years.  He also mentored students and chaperoned them to the Knowledge Bowl middle school southeast conference events too! At times, you could also find him teaching TV production – with the help of Bob Tieffenbacher – where morning announcements were broadcast and the students made their own “mini movies.”  “…and all that was before cell phones!” Mulholland recalls.

Mulholland also was one of the  organizers of “Homework Help” that ran after school for many years.  He, and other teachers, volunteered an hour after school to help or tutor students in classwork.  There were snacks, juice, and comfortable conversations that often led to those “lightbulb moments.”

Throughout his career, Mr. Muholland has truly morphed and changed with the times and locations.  He went from using blackboards and chalk, to whiteboards and dry erase markers, to Zoom online classes, and now to big screens in the classroom. When asked about events or details that exceeded his imagination, he said teaching during COVID was especially challenging and he realized just how much he missed having students in the classroom.  He also mentioned the world of online, like Google Classroom and papers where there’s no real paper.  He also said that early on in his career he never imagined students contacting him via email after midnight with questions about vintage clothing, or wanting to tell him they thought of better answers for the test now, or seeing a missing grade in the online gradebook and turning in the assignment via Google document attachment. Mulholland recalls that when he was in school, he never knew what his grade was until parent-teacher conferences! He also never had a cell phone and often used a card catalog in the library.  He commented that so much information is in the hands of students today, and yet so much of that is incorrect too! Mulholland wants his students to be able to think, question, and solve. Those who have had Mulholland as a teacher agree that they have learned those three skills!

The retirement of Mr. Mulholland will be a “blip” on the big screen of life, but for many of his students, his retirement symbolizes the ending of a teaching style that has shaped the rest of their lives in some way.  Mulholland challenged students to “do hard things.”  He showed no mercy when playing chess.  He arrived early in the morning for study sessions for any student who wanted them and he stayed late learning, right along with the students, how to run a Cricut to make better Decades presentation posters. His presence, in some way, shape, or form, has been a part of Kingsland since he started Kindergarten.  Now, after thirteen years as a student, and  after 42 years of teaching, he will leave his classroom and…go golfing.  And his students know this well, he will start spending some of his social security.  But they, his students, need to “keep contributing to that fund!”  Congratulations to Mr. Mulholland on his retirement and his outstanding (and unmatched) career at Kingsland!