As students and new teachers return to their hometowns at Mitchell School District – Mitchell Republic

MITCHELL — Jacey Puetz teaches fourth grade at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary School.

It’s her first year as a teacher in the Mitchell School District, but it’s certainly not her first time inside the walls of a Mitchell School District building. In fact, it’s far from her first time inside Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary School itself.

“I actually went to Gertie Belle,” said Puetz, a 2020 graduate of Mitchell High School.

Now, instead of sitting at a student desk, she sits at the head of the classroom, leading students through those lessons. She is one of 21 new teachers at Mitchell schools who were once students in the district, using the lessons they learned in the system to improve the learning of current students.

Of the new teachers in the district this year, several aren’t technically new at all. Joe Childs, superintendent for the Mitchell School District, estimates that about 40 percent of them were already deeply rooted in the community, some of them as students in the buildings where they now prepare lessons, grade papers and help young students navigate their educational experience in Mitchell.

That includes teachers like Puetz, who returned to the Mitchell School District as a teacher after exploring career options led her to teaching. Her teachers at the school, fittingly enough, were part of her inspiration.

Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic

“I love school. I always looked forward to school. I honestly hated the summer,” Puetz said. “But I really enjoyed being in school and being in that environment with a lot of different backgrounds and different students around me. But I also just had great teachers that made me want to be in school more than out of school.”

She began her further education at South Dakota State University, where she studied early childhood development. After spending time at SDSU, she took her first step toward moving closer to home when she transferred to Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell.

Once again she found inspiration from her professors.

“My junior year, I decided to transfer to Dakota Wesleyan, where I focused on upper elementary and middle school. Through my internships, placements, and my classroom experience, I knew that I belonged in elementary school,” Puetz said. “I was only there for a year and a half, but I met a lot of great professors and people who I still get to work with today.”

She then interned at the Mitchell School District before returning this year and finding a familiar place at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary School.

Young adults often look outward from their hometowns when thinking about their future, but Puetz said there was always an underlying desire to return to Mitchell to begin her career. Family and a love of the community were a big part of that, she said.

“I always told myself that I wanted to come back here. It’s just such a great community and I have my family here. It’s just a place that I always saw myself staying,” Puetz said. “So my plan was ultimately, hopefully, to get a job in the Mitchell School District. So I’m very thankful that there were openings and I was able to get one.”

Just around the corner from Puetz’s classroom, Amy Uher teaches her third-grade class.

Another Mitchell resident, Uher, had a slightly different path to teaching in the Mitchell School District. She graduated from St. John Paul II Elementary School, so she had never been inside the building she now calls home until much later in life.

Her interest in teaching arose when she explored her career through the World of Work program at Mitchell High School.

“I went into a third grade classroom at LB Williams Elementary and just kind of helped out there,” Uher said. “So that was my first look into a classroom and I really enjoyed it and really enjoyed working with the kids.”

The experience was so positive that she returned the following semester to volunteer, working with students who were just learning English, which eventually led to her earning a minor in English as a New Language through her studies at Dakota State University in Madison.

During her studies, her teachers gave her extra inspiration. She said that they were the right teachers at the right time in her life.

“Those are probably the best teachers I’ve ever had,” Uher said. “My professors really helped me on my path to becoming a teacher.”

She had the opportunity to teach in both Sioux Falls and Mitchell, but a natural affinity for her hometown led her to return to Mitchell for that portion of her education. It’s a decision she doesn’t regret. Her family lives in Mitchell, and the community itself is familiar and welcoming. It feels like home, for lack of a better word, she said.

And because the cost of living can sometimes be a big part of post-college life for recent graduates, Mitchell has something extra to offer Mitchell High School graduates of 2020: cost savings.

“When I was torn between Sioux Falls and Mitchell for my internship, it was helpful that I could live at home and save money, and you don’t necessarily get paid for an internship,” she said. “And it worked out for both of us. I live for free and I can help them with things that they need. It’s just a good system that we have now.”

Teachers in the Mitchell School District come from a variety of places, both inside and outside of Mitchell and even South Dakota. They all bring something unique to the table, with their teaching style and personality, and they are all highly valued, Childs said.

He wrote in a column for the Mitchell Republic earlier this month that the large number of local students returning to teach at their alma mater this year says something about the nature of the community and the district itself.

“It struck me, more than in years past, that our district is uniquely in a cycle of renewal,” Childs wrote, reflecting on the district’s annual New Teacher Breakfast event. “We often think of new hires as bringing fresh perspectives — and they certainly do — but there’s something special about those who choose to return to the place that shaped them.”

Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic

The opportunities that students sometimes seek outside their home communities are often right in front of them. Mitchell students can find the same support system and community they experienced growing up as they embark on their new careers.

There’s nothing wrong with scanning the horizons for opportunities, Childs said, but those who choose to return to Mitchell to teach or pursue other careers typically have a natural investment in the people and, in the case of teachers, students in the community. Many see Mitchell as the destination, not a stop on the journey.

“It’s about fostering a sense of belonging and purpose that goes beyond graduation. It’s about helping students see that Mitchell isn’t just a stopover on the way to somewhere else — it’s a place where they can put down roots, raise a family, and build a life,” Childs wrote.

Speaking to the Mitchell Republic this week, Childs also said it’s good for the students in their classrooms to have teachers from their own communities return. Those teachers understand the experiences of being a Mitchell School District student as well as anyone, having been one themselves.

Those new teachers are a testament to the work done by all teachers in the district, he said.

“You really feel like the people you have here now have to do well, because what a great honor and a great compliment to have alumni come back to a place where they clearly felt special when they were there as students,” Childs said. “(Current) students get a great example of what they can look forward to. They have someone in front of them who has been in their shoes, who has literally sat at their desk and grown through the program and is part of a place where you can go anywhere.”

Now that they’re settled into their new classrooms, Puetz and Uher say they’re enjoying their careers and have no plans to seek greener pastures anytime soon. There are young minds to be shaped in the classroom, and they both happen to have roles in coaching volleyball, another activity they enjoy sharing with their students.

And there is plenty to look forward to. For Uher, it is always exciting to sit down with her students and share some simple time away from technology, whether with an instructional board game or other activities.

Adam Thury / Mitchell Republic

“It’s just really fun in the morning when they’re here and they get to play with the group. They learn how to play with their friends and then I get to sit down with a few of them and play and that’s something that’s always been important to me,” Uher said.

Puetz said she’s also looking forward to what the future holds. She was once where her young students are now — taking classes that will provide a foundation for their time in high school. She knows those classes will serve them well for a long time to come, just as they have for her.

It has taken her all the way from the classroom to the teacher’s desk. She loves it and hopes that some of the students before her will one day consider standing where she is now.

“It’s such a beautiful career. It’s so rewarding to see your students learn and grow, not only in the classroom, but outside of it,” Puetz said. “I can’t wait to see them go to high school. I (tell them) to continue pursuing their passions.”