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                                                                                                   Summer/Back to School 2025
                                                     MINNESOTA’S K–12 EDUCATION CONNECTIONTODAYTODAY                            MN                ™
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              Jordan’s Building Trades Course                                                Meet Minnesota’s Teacher of
                                                                                             the Year, Linda Wallenberg
        “Students leave prepared to jump into the trades after taking this class!”
                                                                                Congratulations Wally!
                                                                                   Linda Wallenberg, an English teacher at
                                                                                Eden Prairie High School, is the 2025 Minne-
                                                                                sota Teacher of the Year.
                                                                                   Wallenberg — known affectionately
                                                                                as “Wally” by generations  of students  — is
                                                                                now in her 49th year of teaching. She is the
                                                                                61st recipient  of the  prestigious  award and
                                                                                the  first  from  the  Eden  Prairie  district  to  be
                                                                                named  Minnesota  Teacher  of  the  Year.  An
                                                                                independent selection committee representing
                                                                                Minnesota leaders in education, business and
                                                                                government chooses the Teacher of the Year
                                                                                from individuals who are nominated and who
                                                                                then choose to become a candidate.
                                                                                   “Teaching  is about the journey — the
                                                                                opportunity  every  fall  and every single  day
                                                                                to  begin  anew, to  guide  students  along  their
                                                                                own journeys, to build people, not just schol-
        Jordan Public Schools               students have  had the unique  opportunity  of   ars,” Wallenberg said. “I believe teaching is a   2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year Linda
            For the  past  four years,  Jordan High   experiencing  a school building  construction   calling of love, an awakening of sorts — cre-  Wallenberg
        School  students  have  had the  opportunity  to   project on our campus at Jordan Elementary   ating a sacred space where students can feel
        take a Building Trades course in grades 11 or   School first-hand. Building Trades student job   seen,  believe  in  themselves,  and  trust  their   ing  the  first  certified  Swedish  teacher  in
        12. Students taking this course complete work   site visits have included meetings with trades   own authentic voices to take them out to the   Minnesota. She taught 8th-grade  English at
        in fields including electrical wiring, plumbing,   foremen, viewing in-progress and completed   world.”    Faribault  Junior High for a year and a half
        carpentry, and various other projects that give   work, and even a site safety consultation with   “Before meeting ‘Wally,’ I did not under-  before coming to Eden Prairie High School in
        them a taste of a future career in building and   OSHA.  Additionally,  a  few  of  the  students   stand what true, unbridled devotion looked   1977 as an English and Swedish teacher and
        trades. In the past, students have worked on   have  met  individually  with  trades  foremen   like,”  said Sophia  Yoerks, an Eden Prairie   head gymnastics coach.
        projects  ranging  from  constructing  camper   to learn more in-depth information about the   High School 2024 graduate, in a recommenda-  Wallenberg  has  a  master’s  degree  in
        cabins and storage sheds to focusing on   work they do, to see if it may be a good fit for   tion letter for Wallenberg. “Not only does she   English education and has additionally taught
        roofing and fascia.                 them in the future.                 teach impactful and informative material, but   in  Canterbury, England,  and  for  the  past  42
             “Our Building and Trades class is a great   This spring with the help of our   she also finds countless ways to connect both   summers  has  been  both  the  director  and  a
        opportunity for students. It allows them to get   construction  partners  (a  professional  firm),   herself and her students with it. Even though I   Swedish teacher at a nearby college’s Swedish
        skills in the construction trades in everything   half of the Building Trades students have been   have known her for almost five years, she still   Language Village.
        from building sheds to concrete structures to   working  on  the  replacement  of  a  memorial   continues to amaze me.”   She has been named Eden Prairie Teacher
        wiring,” said Jordan High School Principal,   garden at Jordan Elementary School. They have   Wallenberg began teaching after gradu-  of the Year three times, a finalist for Minnesota
        Jeff Vizenor. “Students leave prepared to jump   been working with the Project Superintendent   ating  from  college  in  1975,  which  followed   Teacher of the Year in 2005 and 2025, named
        into the trades after taking this class!”  and  carpentry  foreman  to  design,  obtain   her  studies  in  Sweden.  She  earned  a  degree   National Gymnastics Coach of the Year twice
            During the  2024-2025 school  year,                                 in English and Scandinavian studies, becom-
                                                          Continued on Page 8                                                   Continued on Page 24


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