District hires 20 teachers, 3 from Hastings

Talk about it

Andy Larson, HHS graduate, was destined to be a teacher. He became one and began teaching sixth grade at Woodbury last year. Now he’ll be teaching in Hastings.

“As far back as I can recall – in fourth grade – I knew I wanted to teach, or be a lawyer, but that (the legal profession) never stuck,” Larson said in a 2008 interview. “Teaching was always one of those things I needed to do.”

Larson was one of those former HHS students the Star Gazette featured in the 2008 Helping Hands tab about young adults making a difference in Hastings. He’s been helping out with “little kids” most of his life. His mother, Sherry Larson, runs a daycare, which is truly a “family” business, with everyone playing a role with the children. But it’s more than a business, with the kids often included in the Larson family’s vacations.

Little wonder then, that Larson also volunteered with elementary students while he was in high school. He was honored in the 2000 Helping Hands tab for just that. As a freshman at Hastings High School, he volunteered in the elementary classroom for an hour after school four times a week, and then three times a week as a sophomore. When he turned 16, he became an aide and got paid for helping in the summer program, a job he continued through college.

He’s excited that he’s going to be teaching in Hastings.

“I had a lot of great teachers in Hastings,” he told the Star Gazette in 2008.

“I live here and I’ll be teaching here,” Larson said. “I look forward to seeing my students outside of the classroom too.”

And he’s excited he’s going to be teaching third grade.

“It’ll be different than teaching sixth grade,” he said. “I’ll be working more with reading, and I’ll be teaching the kids to love reading.”

Larson’s mother is also glad her son will be teaching in Hastings, though not for the expected reason.

“He’s kind of a Hastings hometown boy,” she said. “I don’t think he’d ever move.”

She’s excited because she went to Pinecrest when she was young.

“And three of the kids from the daycare will be going to Pinecrest,” Sherry Larson said. “Even if they don’t have Andy for homeroom, they switch off, so they’ll probably get to have him as a teacher at some point.”

Larson will be getting into his classroom the week before school, during teacher workshops, but he’s already over at Pinecrest, helping out with, of course, the summer school program.

Larson is the son of Brad and Sherry Larson. Besides having a new job, he’ll be getting married in August. His fiancé, Molly Murtaugh, works in Eagan for the Department of Revenue.

And 19 more

The school district this past Wednesday night hired replacements for the teachers who retired in the spring.

Of the 20, three, Andrew Larson, Amanda Millhollin, and Megan Fowler, are from Hastings. Larson will teach third grade at Pinecrest Elementary, Millhollin will teach at the middle school, and Fowler will teach second grade at Christa McAuliffe Elementary.

Most of those hired come from nearby communities, but three come a long distance to teach in Hastings. Brian Edel and Marsha Edel last had Connecticut addresses; both, however, went to high school in Minnesota, Brian Edel at New Prague and Marsha Edel at LeSueur-Henderson, and both attended colleges in Minnesota before attending Southern Connecticut State. Brian Edel will teach EBD/SLD at the high school and Marsha Edel will teach the same at John F. Kennedy Elementary. Talia Roder lists her current address as Peyton, Colo. But she, too has Minnesota connections, having attended the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn. and having taught in St. Cloud for three years. Roder will be teaching music at McAuliffe.

Tags: school district 200, education