New Home of the Huskies 8-2023

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Q& A

Kory Kath with OHS Principal

By JOSH LAFOLLETTE josh.lafollette@apgsomn.com

Few people have witnessed the unfolding history of Owatonna High School like Kory Kath.

Kath has a long history with the school — first as a student, then a teacher and now as principal. Though a lifelong resident of Owatonna, Kath’s career has taken him from two terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives to a stint in the Mankato School District, ultimately bringing him back to his hometown.

With the new OHS preparing to open

its doors this fall, Kath is nearly ready to show off a project years in the making.

First off, how’s the move-in going so far?

Kath: Really, really well. We were able to have — starting yesterday July 31st — staff coming in. We’re doing it from floor to floor, because third floor is where they were finishing first. Staff were able to come in starting on the third floor down to the first. This whole week, we’ll have people coming in and out and prepping their classrooms.

Is there anything you’re bringing with you to remind you of the old building?

Kath: There was nothing that came with me from my office, but there are a lot of really cool connections that we’re making with certain things that are going to be part of our museum or some of that transition. Like the two lamp posts [from the old OHS], right now they’re prepping

all of that. They’re looking at how we get that crest off the front of the building, things like that.

Do you remember how it felt to see this construction site for the first time?

Kath: “I can’t believe that this commitment is becoming a reality,” in that moment of recognizing and just having this immense sense of gratitude that our community knew that this was a step forward for kids. It overwhelmed me with gratitude, that first moment of seeing the construction start.

I’ll tell you, what really hit me was the moment — which would have been last school year about this time — when all of our staff got to come over and sign the wall over by the auditorium... It was just very heartwarming, but also it really spoke to how our staff is absolutely committed to kids and how excited they were to be able to work with them in a new space like this.

Is it going to be hard to see the old building demolished?

Kath: I gave a class tour to the Class of ‘73. We were going through the high school and I heard from all of them as they were sharing different memories and different things of where they were. What was so interesting to me is where they said they were taking different classes is not where we were teaching classes anymore... What I took from all of that is that a school is never finished anyway. This is the evolution of what naturally happens for our teaching and learning. We naturally look at what are the next steps for what it is that we need to do to serve kids best. I will miss things, but it’s because of the interactions I had with people. That’s where my memories come from. Right now I’m like “oh my gosh, what are going to be — over the first year here — what are going to be the memories of the spaces that we have here?” I’m really excited to

Owatonna High School Principal Kory Kath stands in the commons of the new high school. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

see that happen.

Did you get to give input on the design of this building?

Kath: Actually quite a bit. Wold and the team with Kraus-Anderson... absolutely honored my role as principal. That was huge to me. They recognized too that I have a definite connection and commitment to the community, having been a graduate as well as a lifelong resident.

What were your main priorities in that process?

Kath: Something that came very loud and clear from people in the community is that there had to be a sense that this building had a wow factor that honored the work that happens here. In other words, that it honors education. You hear a lot of people talk about the pillars from our old building. What truly is going to show to students here that we invested in a space that honors education and honors the learning?

For a lot of people, it was having a commons area where everybody can gather, and that is kind of the hub of our school and everything that we do flows around that. That’s one thing that is very exciting for me, is the use of that space. And specifically from there, is honoring ways in which we connect students to their learning. There are spaces here that are very specific to career and tech ed. Our math and social studies and English can ebb and flow for the needs of students, so... it can adapt just like that from quarter to quarter or semester to semester.

When we interviewed you in 2019, you said that students’ voices can often get lost in schools, but that listening to them is one of the most powerful things educators can do. How does this new building amplify students’ voices?

Kath: First and foremost, we’re really happy that Wold as well as our community groups included students in all aspects of that... For our activities — whether it’s music, whether it’s theater, whether it’s athletics — all of them had student voices that came in to say “if you look at having

the best space to show your talents, what would that look like?” and making sure that student voice was part of it. From there, our conversations as adults always centered around how we can deliver the best experience for students. That is what I’ve heard time and time again from our teachers — “how can I best connect with students in this space?” That excites me.

Career Pathways has been a big focus at the high school. How will this building open up more career opportunities for students?

Kath: The spaces within this building are allowing for those courses to go to a very high level, whether it’s our nursing lab that will absolutely have students experiencing what a hospital floor would look like, a culinary kitchen that is going to rival any commercial kitchen that’s within our own community, a career and tech ed area with a large bay for small engines to woods to metals that can adapt and change in the needs of what we want to teach students.

Are there any plans to make spaces in the building available for community events?

Kath: Our first priority, of course, is our student-led programs and programs that are here, and then there is — how do we continue to forge those community partnerships to make those a reality? Whether it’s a dance studio hosting something in our auditorium or in the gymnasium, to local concerts and opportunities there, to community colleges that have already asked “hey, in the early spring when we don’t have a softball field because it’s flooded, could we come and use your turf field?”

There are a lot of people that are very excited about this being a regional campus that they could maybe rent and utilize. We’re excited to be good stewards that way and have opportunities brought here for our community, but also to show off what an amazing facility this is.

With the school continuing to grow, do you have plans for how this building is going to accommodate increasing

enrollment?

Kath: Right now, we’re at around upper 1400, low 1500 students. This school is designed for 1600 students plus, so we definitely have room to grow in the space we have. In the future — if we continue to grow — absolutely that design was part of that. You’ll see around us, with an over 90-acre campus, we have the possibility to grow and expand. That was part of our conversation around if we needed to add another 6 to 8 classrooms, where would that go and what would that look like. That was actually part of our conversation from the get-go.

Do you have any hopes for the next chapter of OHS history?

Kath: Right now, my focus is on helping people to write this chapter and to see... that all of our students see themselves as being a part of our story and that they are celebrated in that story and then from there, that they begin to write our next

chapter...

My excitement is how beautiful that chapter will be, because I know my own experience at the former high school and the traditions and the memories that I have there of students and staff and how much that meant to me. Now they have the opportunity to do that fresh from the getgo. How cool will that be? My hope is that as we do bring them in on those first days, that they recognize the unique opportunity they have to create meaningful traditions that honor all of us.

Is there anything else you want people to know?

Kath: We are so excited because Sept. 23 will be our open house here. A lot of people ask, “why did you choose after school started?” Truly, it was important to me that we needed to be in this building and it had to be a place of learning before you could see it as that place of learning. n

Assistant principal’s secretary Shannon DeWitz (left) and principal’s secretary Dawn Tuchtenhagen (right) were among the first faculty members to move in to the new high school. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

OHS receives culinary grant from Rachael Ray Foundation

By JOSH LAFOLLETTE josh.lafollette@apgsomn.com

Owatonna

High School students are getting a boost from a surprising source: celebrity cook Rachael Ray. The OHS

family and consumer science program is receiving an upgrade thanks to a $5000 grant from the Rachael Ray Foundation. OHS is one of 40 recipient schools in the country, which includes three other Minnesota schools located in Roch-

Family and consumer sciences teacher Denise Duffy (third from left) attends professional development through ProStart, a program that prepares high schoolers for careers in the culinary arts and restaurant management. (Photo courtesy Denise Duffy)

ester, New Richland and Staples. The grant supports ProStart, a two-year culinary program from the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

OHS is one of many American schools that participates in ProStart. While family and consumer sciences (FACS) courses typically teach basic home cooking skills, ProStart prepares students for careers in the culinary arts and restaurant management.

“ The daily investment that ProStart educators make in their classroom as they teach and mentor the next generation of culinary and restaurant management leaders is extraordinary,” said Ray in a press release. “We are optimistic that these grants will give teachers some fresh opportunities to capture the imagination of their students and teach them why our industry is a place where they can build a career.”

Owatonna FACS teacher Denise Duffy first learned of the grant through Hospitality Minnesota, a nonprofit that partners with local ProStart programs. Duffy is one of three full-time FACS teachers employed at the high school. According to Duffy, this makes her department uniquely wellstaffed compared to programs at comparably sized schools.

Though she’s proud of what they’ve achieved thus far, the grant presented the opportunity to take Owatonna’s FACS program to the next level. She recalled the excitement in her classroom when her students learned they were eligible for a grant

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“It’s really exciting to see that she as a person has invested and is giving back to ProStart,” said Duffy.

Still, there was no guarantee that OHS would receive one of the grants. Duffy knew the process would be “highly competitive.” As part of the application process, Duffy asked her students what ProStart meant to them and collected the responses.

“ To me, ProStart is a way that our school could have an even better foods program. It would help us learn more about the restaurant industry because we would have more things that restaurants have. Receiving this grant would mean so much to me as I want to start my own bakery when I am older so it would help me learn all the rules and how to make my business clean and welcoming for others,” reads one of the responses, from 10th grade student Adeline.

Their work paid off. Duffy told her students about the grant at the end of the year. While the seniors were disappointed they wouldn’t reap the benefits, Duffy said the class is excited for the upgraded program. She looks forward to the expanded culinary facilities in the new OHS building, but said the grant dollars will improve the program even more.

“We’re fortunate getting a lot of new equipment and updates, but the budget is still the budget,” said Duffy. “So this extra money will be put to good use.”

The updated facility, combined with the grant money, opens up a slew of pos-

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sibilities for FACS students. The new OHS features homestyle kitchen space, similar to the existing building, but will also include a new licensed commercial kitchen. While the homestyle kitchen will be used to teach the introductory course for freshman and sophomores, it’s not licensed for food service. The commercial kitchen will allow the more experienced culinary students to provide catering for events. Getting used to the brand new facilities will take time, but Duffy has big plans for the program’s future.

“I would like to see us host a staff breakfast or, maybe a couple years down the road, provide the food or the catering for a

football banquet or something like that, so our students actually get the experience,” said Duffy. “The potential for growth with our new space and the additional grant dollars and everything is just huge. I’m super excited.”

Students who progress in the program will have the opportunity to earn their ServSafe certification, a three-year food safety license that gives them a major advantage when seeking jobs in food service. Whether students are looking for these jobs or just want to cook for their family, Duffy guarantees that culinary skills will prove useful in their futures. n

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The new Owatonna High School includes a licensed commercial kitchen, opening the door for culinary arts students to cater events in the future. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

State grants aim to boost diversity in local school staff

ing staff.”

Elstad also noted the involvement of Minnesota State, which he regards as one of the best teacher preparation schools in the nation.

The selection process for the two initiatives is yet to be determined. According to the grant proposal, MEP members will have to form a council to oversee the initiatives. The council must be majority people of color and include parents, students, community members and school staff from the districts. The council will also be responsible for hiring program navigators to support participants in both initiatives.

According to Picha, OPS isn’t just looking to diversify its staff — it also needs more teachers in general. Picha feels that training Owatonna students who are already familiar with the community is the best way to meet the district’s staffing needs, noting that many faculty members are former OPS students. Elstad agreed with Picha’s assessment, saying public schools are experiencing a “critical” need for teachers.

By JOSH LAFOLLETTE josh.lafollette@apgsomn.com

To recruit the next generation of teachers, Owatonna Public Schools is looking within.

The Minnesota Department of Education recently approved two $750,000 Grow Your Own (GYO) grants to the Minnesota Educators Partnership (MEP). The grant program focuses on recruiting teachers of color in school districts where the diversity of the student body significantly exceeds the diversity of the staff. As a member of MEP, OPS will receive resources from the grant.

According to Chris Picha, director of human resources and student affairs for OPS, closing the diversity gap between teachers and students is a crucial step toward offering an equitable education to all students.

“ The majority of our staff are white. All the research shows that students of color learn better with teachers that look like them, that talk like them, that have similar experiences,” said Picha. “Our goal really is to match the demographics of our students.”

MEP is a partnership between Minnesota State University Mankato and school districts throughout southern Minnesota, including Owatonna, Mankato and Faribault.

“ The mission of the MEP is to enhance

teacher preparation, provide professional development, and advocate for improvements in the education system in Minnesota to serve and grow all learners,” according to a press release.

The member schools of MEP opted to pool their resources rather than applying for the grants individually. The GYO grants support the MEP Teachers of Tomorrow and the MEP Teaching Fellows initiatives.

The Teachers of Tomorrow initiative will prepare 100 students of color throughout the member districts to be teachers. The plan is to recruit five juniors and five seniors from each district for the initiative, though Picha noted that number may vary depending on the size of the district. The goal of the initiative is for students to return to their own communities as teachers following the completion of their teaching degree.

The Teaching Fellows initiative provides a pathway for adults who are interested in becoming teachers in their communities. The grant will support 15 people of color in pursuing a teaching degree, providing each participant with $10,000 a year in scholarships or stipends to offset the cost of their education. The teaching fellows must either live in the community or already work for the local school district. According to Picha, some participants could benefit from both initiatives, if Teachers of Tomorrow students become teaching fellows after graduating high school.

Superintendent Jeff Elstad is excited to see the impact of the grants in the district.

“It offers an opportunity for students that might be interested in going into education to basically get their teach-

ing degree tuition-free. The students of Owatonna will be offered a really unique opportunity,” said Elstad. “Also, it comes with lots of mentoring from current teach-

“Anything we can do to encourage more people to think about being a teacher is going to be well worth our time and effort, because the education system right now is losing a lot of great teachers to retirement, or they’re just leaving the profession and we need to change that,” said Elstad. n

Owatonna High School is one of several schools to receive resources from the Minnesota Department of Education’s Grow Your Own grant program, which focused on recruiting teachers of color in school districts where the diversity of the student body significantly exceeds the diversity of the staff. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

After cherry picking the most historically significant pieces from this trove of vintage buttons, the OHS Museum plans to give the rest away to community members at an official farewell event for the old high school in September. (Josh LaFollette/ southernminn.com)

OHS museum committee prepares for new, improved facility

By JOSH LAFOLLETTE josh.lafollette@apgsomn.com

The existing Owatonna High School building’s days are numbered, but its

history will live on.

While the building’s upcoming demolition has raised questions about the fate of the OHS Museum, museum volunteers and school staff recently confirmed the collection is safe. The new OHS will feature expanded display areas for the museum, giving volunteers the opportunity to craft new interpretive displays to better communicate the school’s history.

The museum was officially founded in 1992, featuring items collected by thenassistant principal Darryl Hill throughout

his lengthy tenure at the school. For over 30 years, the museum displayed its evergrowing collection in the halls of OHS. Today, the museum operates independently of the school district under the guidance of an advisory committee of community members and alumni.

While these volunteers have expressed gratitude for what’s been handed down to them, they also feel the previous iteration of the museum left something to be desired. Before the museum artifacts were moved to storage earlier this summer, the displays remained largely unchanged for years. Some of the items on permanent display have been discolored and degraded by fluorescent and natural light, but the new display spaces will address these concerns. The committee is using the move as an opportunity to reimagine the museum, using artifacts to tell stories from OHS history rather than just displaying them.

“We’re going to add better signage, so that people know what they’re looking at,” said committee member Juanita Drabek.

The new OHS will feature four separate display spaces where museum volunteers can design new themed displays. As guests enter the school, they’ll have the opportunity to view artifacts in the main office. Four cases will stand in front of the new auditorium — two allocated to the museum and two for the theater department to display items from recent and current productions. The new Harry Wenger Music Suite will display artifacts relating

to music and the arts. These displays will rotate to offer fresh information and better preserve the artifacts. The largest display will be located in a new area called the Foundation Room, funded by donations from the community.

“We’re very appreciative that the Owatonna Foundation and the ISD 761 Foundation donated money to make this room happen,” said OHS Principal Kory Kath. “It really does pay homage to our history and all of the amazing memories that students and staff have made at OHS.”

The Foundation Room will contain rotating exhibits and a permanent display, with the nature of each exhibit and items included still to be determined by museum volunteers. While the advisory committee is responsible for raising its own funds, the district will provide the new display cases.

The bulk of the museum’s collection will remain in the current facility. Although the original structure is slated for demolition, the district will repurpose some of the later additions to consolidate its offices and maintenance facilities onto one campus. Museum storage, currently housed in a cramped office adjacent to the library, will move upstairs to a repurposed classroom. Drabek said the new room will give them double the space they had before. Museum volunteers will transport artifacts between the district offices and the new school as exhibits rotate. The district office will also include

The OHS Museum’s collection includes countless historical photos, like this 1970s-era picture of OHS orchestra students in National Farmer’s Bank. (Josh LaFollette)

displays of site-specific artifacts, like a cross section of a huge tree that was removed from school grounds during a previous expansion to the building.

The committee is facing countless work hours before the museum reopens in the fall.

MUSEUM CONTACT

OHS Museum volunteers are still determining which items will remain in the collection. Anyone curious about the status of their donation can contact the advisory committee at their email: museum@ isd761.org

Volunteers are currently sifting through the collection to eliminate redundancies and artifacts that don’t communicate unique information. These items may not belong in a museum, but volunteers acknowledge they still hold sentimental value.

Museum volunteer Julie Kruger said the museum has kept “thousands of pages of records” matching artifacts to the people who donated them. They hope to return unused items to the original owners or their family members. Once the weeding process is complete, the committee plans on creating a set of guidelines to prevent the collection from growing out of control once again.

“We do need to create a collection

policy on what we’re going to accept going forward,” said Drabek.

The school district is planning an of-

ficial farewell event for the old high school in September, during which the museum will have smaller pieces available for com-

munity members who want to keep a little piece of OHS history. n

Juanita Drabek and Julie Kruger, members of the Owatonna High School Museum advisory committee, sift through items from museum storage. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

These bleachers — emblazoned with the school’s initials — were installed within

last month. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

The new school’s commons area features a massive bird’s-eye view of the Straight River and Lake Kohlmeier (Josh LaFollette photos/southernminn.com)

Construction crews are working to complete the new Owatonna High School ahead of the summer deadline for the project. With the second and third floors nearly move-in ready, the bulk of the work has moved to the ground floor.

Crews recently installed seating in the auditorium. The theater stage is currently under construction. (Josh LaFollette/southernminn.com)

“ThenewHighSchoolhelpspositionourcityforlong-termprosperityandreflectsthe impressivecommitmentthiscommunityhasmadetofuturegenerationsofstudents, families,andallresidents.OnbehalfofeveryoneatFederatedInsurance,weareproudto bepartofthisincredibleinvestmentinwhat’stocome.GoHuskies!”

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