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Last modified: Monday, August 24, 2009 8:09 AM CDT
Teachers arrive with interesting backgrounds
by Jennifer Johnson • Daily News
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two part series introducing new teachers at Campbell-Tintah School.
Five new teachers have joined the staff at Campbell-Tintah School in Campbell, Minn., and all have arrived armed with an interesting background. The following information features three teachers not included in Friday's edition.
Garrett Gransee, a native of Sanborn, Minn., is the new mathematics teacher. A graduate of Northwestern College at St. Paul, Minn., he student taught at Murray Junior High School in the St. Paul School District.
"I'm looking forward to meeting the students and getting involved in the community," he said.
While at Northwestern College, Gransee joined the college choir as a freshman and toured Germany, Poland and the Ukraine for 16 days. They sang worship pieces and others song from various cultures in the language, such as the Ukranian national anthem.
His travels were a far cry away from the dairy farm he was raised on in Sanborn.
"It was a time that I didn't want to grow up [there], because I had to do chores and stuff on the weekends and holidays," he joked. "I'm used to working 24-7."
Doug Rakoczy, the new special education teacher, is anticipating small class sizes and being around a variety of different age groups.
"There's more one-on-one with students than there is if I was, say, a science teacher," he said.
Rakoczy may be starting his first year of teaching, but it's not his first career. He spent 18 years as a geologist for an environmentalist organization and decided to head to Minnesota State University Moorhead for a degree in special education. He graduated in May.
"I liked geology, but it's just a lot different, a lot of hours," he said. "I just didn't see doing that for the next 20 or 25 years."
Now in his mid-40s, Rakoczy said if he was going to make the leap and try something different, he had to do it before it was too late.
"I like the challenge of working with students that have special learning needs," he said.
Rakoczy and his wife, Susan, share five children. They live in Elbow Lake, Minn.
Lynette Schwagerl, formerly a Breckenridge language arts teacher, has been hired as the new English and media teacher.
"I'm looking forward to working at Campbell-Tintah, getting to know people there and becoming a part of the school and community," she said.
After she graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., she spent two years teaching middle school language arts at Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School in Mazeppa, Minn.
Schwagerl is a native of Beardsley, Minn.
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