Posted: 5/9/07
NB Teacher of the Year wears many hats, and one helmet
 North Branch Teacher of the Year Karla Meemken teaches first grade and wouldn't have it any other way. Each year, she says, brings new challenges and rewards. |
By Patrick Tepoorten
Karla Meemken is much more than just a first-grade teacher. She has testified before the state legislature, raised two boys, shaped curriculum, led the local teachers' union, and adapted to changing attitudes and mandates in education over the course of a 22-year career for the North Branch School District.
Now the 45-year-old motorcycle riding educator has been voted the 2007 North Branch Teacher of the Year, an honor that she doesn't take lightly. "To have the people who best understand the skills required to be a teacher, choose you to represent them as teacher of the year, is an overwhelming honor," said Meemken.
Teaching wasn't always on Meemken's agenda. The St. Cloud native's original plans were to complete a business program at a vocational school, but a school superintendent in her neighborhood kept putting the bug in her ear.
"He kept telling me, ‘you are what we are looking for,'" said Meemken, who used to laugh at the suggestion. But it wasn't long before she left vocational school to attend St. Cloud State University with an eye towards a teaching degree.
"By the end of my first year at St. Cloud State, I knew," said Meemken. It was a decision she said she has never regretted.
Her first job out of school was in North Branch, which her father had to show her on a map, and she has been there ever since, teaching first and second grade. She was married to her husband Dan over President's Day weekend her first year on the job, and has raised two sons in the area.
For over two decades Meemken has taught essentially the same subjects at the same level. One might think that repetition would cause burnout, but Meemken couldn't disagree more.
"Over and over again never really happens," she said. "There is a huge progression of skills in first grade and you see that progress so overtly through the year."
That progress, and the unique set of challenges presented by each new class, far outweighs any sense of doing the same thing year in, year out.
In fact, Meemken stated that, with each class, teaching styles can change dramatically, as she gets to know a class and the students in it to see what approach will maximize the learning experience. That process makes every day a meaningful one. "I have the greatest career anyone could choose. Never to this day have I ever looked at the clock to see when the day is done," she said.
But actual teaching is only a part of her job. Often times, lessons take a back seat to other responsibilities.
"These days there are more challenges," she said, referring to addressing students' dietary needs, behavior issues, changes in curriculum, and the host of changes handed down from federal and state governments. "Every decision they make all comes back to teachers," she said.
As North Branch Education Association co-president, Meemken recently represented the teachers' union through the district's process of cutting $2.5 million from next year's budget. Those decisions too, and the resulting educational adjustments, will ultimately fall on teachers.
In the end, Meemken said that teaching is much more than being in the classroom Monday through Friday nine months out of the year. "Teachers work nights, weekends, and over the summer," she said, and for that she holds fellow teachers in high regard. "We have the greatest people here. They share ideas and care about kids. It would be easy to just say ‘I'm done,' but they don't. They just do more."
In her leisure time, Meemken spends a lot of her time with family. She has two sons, Ben, a high school senior, and Joe, a seventh grader. In the winter the family spends time snowmobiling, and recently, Meemken took up a new hobby. When son Ben decided to get a motorcycle license, Meemken took the classes and tests with him, and now is likely as not to be found on her V-Star on a nice-weather weekend.
"It's a fun family thing," she said, although she admitted she's not too fond of long trips.
As for being teacher of the year, Meemken thinks of it as a shared honor. "I've learned from my colleagues ... I believe I share this with all the teachers in North Branch. Teaching as a whole is really a team effort. This honor makes me feel like the captain who gets to carry the trophy for the team this season," she said.
In representing that group, Meemken is confident she is taking part in a process that will result in strong young adults, capable of thinking and healthy problem solving for a lifetime.
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