11 minute read
Kasey Wacker: She gives students a voice
Kasey Wacker reads a book in her classroom at Perham High School, where she actually graduated herself.
Elizabeth Vierkant / Luminous
SHE GIVES STUDENTS A VOICE
Perham High School’s Kasey Wacker is driven by passion
BY ELIZABETH VIERKANT
For Luminous
Teaching is often considered to be a vocation of passion, and this is certainly the case with well-known Perham High School English, communications and public speaking teacher Kasey Wacker. She never expected a career in education, but coaching the district’s speech time helped her find her passion.
A 2005 Perham High School graduate herself, Wacker never used to imagine her life as a teacher.
“If you would have talked to me in high school, I would have never probably even been on anybody’s radar to be a teacher,” she recalled. “I wasn’t the most academic. The line of teaching just wasn’t on my radar.”
Despite this, she got started on that educational path early in her life without even realizing it. When she was in seventh grade, she joined the high school’s speech team, where she got to know her instructor, coach and future mentor: Dr. Sandra Wieser-Matthews.
“It makes me smile,” WieserMatthews said, reflecting on Wacker’s growth from childhood. “Anything that I may have laid out there, she just took the best parts and just excelled and put her own self in them. Her leadership and care and
—KASEY WACKER
organization — she just goes so much further. She’s from a small community and lived on a farm, and she just took everything and didn’t stop and found her own way to make them even better.”
From a young age, Wacker was always a talkative person. Her kindergarten teacher even called her a “social butterfly.” She just had an urge to speak and communicate, and on top of that, she has always adored acting. The speech team was a great fit for her, and she stayed in it all the way until her high school graduation.
Even at 18 years old, she still had no idea her future would be one of an educator, so she went to St. Cloud Technical College, where she studied business and sales management
While she continued to live and work in St. Cloud for a few years, Perham eventually started calling her back. Even in the time since she graduated high school, her love for competitive speaking never faded.
“When I came back in 2009, that’s when I just walked into the school,
Kasey Wacker holds up her award for Minnesota Speech Coaches Association Class A Speech Coach of the Year.
Elizabeth Vierkant / Luminous
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went to go see Sandra WieserMatthews, and I was like, ‘Hey, do you need help with speech? I’m around. Do you need an assistant coach?’” Wacker recalled. Wieser-Matthews brought her on as an assistant coach, completely changing the trajectory of Wacker’s life.
While Wacker was the assistant coach on the side of her career in business and sales, WieserMatthews told her that she should really consider teaching. And she did consider it — quite a bit, in fact, because she eventually decided that it was something she wanted to pursue.
“After working with kids and the speech program, I realized that (teaching) was something I was suited for,” Wacker said. “So, I went to MSUM in 2010 and was slowly working towards my bachelor’s in communication, arts and literature.”
Once she started pursuing it, her teaching career completely took off. Before she’d even graduated from college with her new degree, a teacher in Perham retired. Always pushing Wacker to pursue her passions, Wieser-Matthews inspired her to apply, just as she’d inspired Wacker many times before. Wacker wasn’t quite sure about the position at first; she hadn’t graduated yet. She didn’t have a degree, and she didn’t have a license. With Wieser-Matthews’ help, however, the two found a solution.
Wacker was able to get a community expert license through the state of Minnesota, and this allowed her to start her career in education at Perham right away. This was far from easy for Wacker. She was both a student and a teacher at the same time, and she had a young son — Kash — at home. Her husband, Ryan, was supportive and helpful during this time, which Wacker appreciates immensely. Her days were completely booked, especially since she was continuing to help the speech team. One day she was learning something at school, the next day she
Kasey Wacker smiles with her family: husband, Ryan and children, Kash, right,
and Noah, left. Contributed / Kasey Wacker
was applying it in her own classroom. Simultaneously being a student and a teacher strongly influenced the way she runs her classroom.
“It made me appreciate my students so much more — to recognize what we ask them to accomplish in a day,” Wacker said. “What do we ask for them to accomplish in a week, and how realistic is that? It really did help me to recognize my own expectations. They have extracurriculars. They have jobs. I mean, I have a family at home too. I had a little boy at home at that time. So it was crucial for me to kind of learn from that in that moment.”
The next year, a literature teaching position opened up in New York Mills. Still going through school and teaching with a community expert license, Wacker pursued it and got the position. She stayed in New York Mills for four years, continuing to coach their speech team. During this time, she had another baby — her daughter, Noah — and even earned her degree after simultaneously student-teaching for school and working full-time at New York Mills.
This is when her mentor, WieserMatthews, decided to retire, and she knew exactly who she wanted to replace her.
“Her energy, her passion, her belief in the learner as the center focus, meeting them where they were at …” Wieser-Matthews said of Wacker. “She’s certainly got that edge and focus on learners. She knows how to maneuver in the system so learners are still at the focus. She just makes sure that happens … To me, that’s really important. I don’t know a lot of people her age who are able to do that with young people. I knew she was an outstanding speech coach. She’s an entrepreneur and just a perfect overall person.”
Though Wieser-Matthews had a few other people in mind, she felt like Wacker was the best person to continue the success of her programs. Oftentimes, when an influential person leaves educational programs that are non-athletic, they tend to fall apart, she explained. With Wacker, she knew that not only would these programs stay afloat, they would also grow stronger. In fact, WieserMatthews said that Wacker has done just that.
Wacker is now the speech team’s head coach. She’s an English, communications and public speaking instructor — teaching classes such as video productions and even college-level English and public speaking for the Minnesota State Community and Technical College. On top of all this, she’s also one of the technology integrationists at the high school, meaning that she helps to train and guide fellow teachers with the use of technology. She even gets to direct the school’s Veterans Day program as a part of her video productions course.
Wacker feels lucky to spend her days teaching students and working with kids. “It’s just the relationships that we create where I genuinely feel like they know me,” she explained. “It’s just authentic. When you’re working with young people, there’s an honesty that they can’t help but deliver, and I appreciate that … I think that makes for better communication. Sometimes I think
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my high school students are better communicators than they get credit for.”
When she was a younger high school student, she sometimes felt as though she didn’t have a voice — that it didn’t matter. She’s made it her goal to communicate with her students, helping them learn while simultaneously feeling heard and seen.
Wacker’s hard work and passion haven’t gone unnoticed by the people around her either. In 2020, she was recognized by the State of Minnesota for her work on the speech team when she received the Minnesota Speech Coaches Association Class A Speech Coach of the Year Award. In June 2022, she was nominated for, and recently won, the Minnesota State Spotlight Award in the category of Teaching Excellence, Superior Service.
Perham-Dent Public School District Superintendent Mitch Anderson also sees Wacker’s work and passion. “She is so well-rounded,” he said. “She’s well-known for her teaching abilities and has continued the tradition of (Wieser-Matthews) … She’s a go-getter. She’s willing to go above and beyond. Her confidence is something everyone picks up on right away, including her students. She’s not afraid to tackle any challenge. She’s great to have on the staff here at the high school.”
Outside of her time at work, Wacker loves to spend time with her family on their 40-acre farm. They adore exploring nature together and going antiquing. Her passion for reading has passed down to her son, Kash, and her daughter, Noah, inherited her spirited nature. They’ve been at her side every step of the way.
Though time has passed since her years as a student, she remains busy, but it’s worth it for Wacker. She loves what she does.
“I (love) giving students an opportunity to help them recognize that their voice matters.” ▲
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