As one of 2 Art Educators at the newly re-established Oltman Middle School in Cottage Grove, MN, 2018 marked a new beginning. Oltman became a contemporary facility designed for quality middle school collaborative programming. We became a dedicated Art department that support students to be critical thinkers, support individualism and develop a culturally supportive and relevant art program for our 6th-8th graders. We fostered collaborative and community-driven projects promoting social-emotional learning through the arts.

The opportunity to collaborate, connect and support each other as teachers truly made an impact on my teaching experience. Working at Oltman middle provided me the opportunity to continue my work with AVID, be extensively trained in Culturally Responsive Teaching, and supported me in my endeavor of graduate school and provided the chance for me to connect to students on authentically rich art class experience everyday these students walked in my doors.

I grew so much during my time at Oltman. I grew not only in my classroom practice but my confidence of knowing middle school mindsets, supporting SEL, Culturally responsive teaching and believing in my students and seeing the motivation to succeed. During the pandemic, my expertise in implementing digitally rich and supportive lessons so my students did not miss out on any opportunity to be creative.

Some great work is included and all I can say is that Oltman is a school of great importance in my teaching career. I have been able to be a team leader and demonstrate dedication to not only my students but my fellow colleagues. Focusing on equity and inclusion, Oltman was a school that hears me as an educator and I appreciate that the arts are valued. To my colleagues, students, parents and community of Cottage Grove: Thank you for allowing me to teach such amazing students. It was a dream come true.