DSU graduate named Chester Teacher of the Year

May 1, 2024

Chester Teacher of the Year Sara Mersch knows the school district well, having graduated from Chester High School in 1996. She walked the same halls her students walk now, ate in the same cafeteria.

However, her experience didn’t include the technology which is so much a part of education today. Her fifth-grade students conduct research for writing projects using iPads and put together slide presentations as part of class projects.

 “They are experts at navigating those things,” the 2004 Dakota State University graduate said.

She is, too. Students entering her classroom know she will teach them shortcuts and other deft maneuvers. She credits her years at DSU with giving her the confidence she has gained.

Mersch was a young wife and the mother of a toddler when she decided to enroll at the university. She had become restless working at the local day care center.

“I knew I wanted to do more,” she said.

Mersch credits her dad, who was a high school science teacher before becoming a farmer, and her older sister, an elementary school teacher, with inspiring her to consider the field of education. With her husband’s support, she cut her hours at the day care center to part-time and started classes.

“The technology scared me to death,” Mersch said.

She had not been required to take any computer classes to graduate from high school and was unfamiliar with the terminology and expectations outlined in the introductory class – web page, assignments posted, discussion board. She didn’t know how to do any of it, but knew she had to learn if she was going to be certified as a K-8 teacher.

“They were incorporating the technology piece into all their classes,” she said.

The culture of the university made it easy for her to pick up what she needed to succeed. Not only were faculty members helpful, but so were her classmates. They were younger than she was and willing to share what they knew.

“That prepared me for my classes now,” Mersch said. “I’m more comfortable trying new things.”

That comfort zone was an asset when school districts across the state, with little warning, were forced to transition to remote learning in response to the COVID pandemic. She used Google Classroom, a free learning platform, and posted assignments for her students. She even made math videos at home.

However, she prefers to simply incorporate technology into daily lessons, to let it be one of the tools available to her. In a classroom where books in the reading corner are arranged by color and students share responsibility for a lop-eared rabbit, technology allows her to do what she loves – help students learn.

“I love helping kids discover new things, learn new things, that’s the reward,” Mersch said.

Because she enjoys teaching, she encourages others to enter the field, especially now when a teacher shortage makes it difficult for some school districts to fill all of their open positions.