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A dozen new teachers will greet students Monday when Luverne Public Schools opens its doors for the 2019-20 school year.
Canaan Petersen returns to Luverne Middle-High School as the new seventh-grade American history and 11th- and 12th-grade geography instructor.
He is also the eighth-grade baseball coach.
Petersen graduated from LHS in 2003 and went on to Augustana University in Sioux Falls, where he earned a bachelor’s degrees in history, secondary education and social studies
He earned his master’s degree in education leadership in 2015 from Western Governors University.
For 10 years Petersen taught at Boulder City, Nevada, High School and taught one year at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls.
Petersen currently resides in Sioux Falls and has three children (all named after presidents) Teddy, 10, Quincy, 7, and Frankie, 4.
James Jarvie takes over the sixth- through 12th-grade band program. He will also direct the marching, pep and jazz bands.
Jarvie graduated from Dassel-Cokato High School in 2005 and from the University of Minnesota-Morris in 2010. For the past nine years, he taught kindergarten through 12th-grade music at Ellsworth Public Schools.
Jarvie lives in Luverne with his wife, Calla.
Cole Meester is the ninth-grade mathematics teacher. He will also coach junior high boys’ basketball for the 2019-20 school year.
Meester graduated from Ellsworth High School in 2015 and attended South Dakota State University in Brookings. He completed his student teaching at Deubrook Public School in White, South Dakota.
He currently lives in Pipestone with his wife, Nichole.
Ann Husfeldt will instruct seventh-grade English and high school speech and American literature.
She graduated from Forest Lake High School in 2007 and from Winona State University.
Previously she taught sixth-grade at North Branch Area Middle School and grades three through six at Wyoming Elementary School.
Husfeldt currently lives in Hills.
Liza Winkler is the new kindergarten teacher at Luverne Elementary.
She graduated from Fosston High School and Mayville, North Dakota, State University with a degree in elementary education.
For the past eight years she taught first grade in Thompson, North Dakota.
Winkler currently lives in Luverne.
Molly Carbonneau will teach fourth grade as previous fourth-grade teacher Joe Schomacher fills the new behavioral interventionist position at Luverne Elementary.
Carbonneau received her bachelor’s degree from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, along with a master’s degree in administration.
She’s been a substitute teacher for Luverne Public Schools and worked with the freshman experience program at Augustana University before becoming a stay-at-home mom for 13 years.
Carbonneau and her husband, Michael, have four children: Xavier, a high school junior, Parker, a freshman, Zander, a sixth-grader, and Oliver, a second-grader.
Challie Jones is the new elementary speech therapist.
She graduated from Mitchell, South Dakota, High School in 2016 and from Augustana University in 2019.
Jones completed her clinical experience in the Sioux Falls Catholic School District and worked with students with dyslexia and severe reading difficulties.
She currently lives in Sioux Falls. Jones and her fiancé, Mitch Johnson, will marry in June 2020.
Chelsie Wermager enters the fifth-grade classroom as previous fifth-grade teacher Katie Mostad moves to the middle school.
Wermager graduated from Groton, South Dakota, High School in 2003 and received her undergraduate degree in elementary education and language arts from Minnesota State University-Moorhead. She earned her Master of Arts degree in instruction from Augustana University in Sioux Falls.
Previously, Wermager taught fifth grade at Coyote Canyon Elementary in Bullhead City, Arizona, and fourth and fifth grades at New Underwood, South Dakota, Elementary School.
She and her husband, Zachary, live in Luverne with their children Mya, 7, and Carter, 3.
Morgan Smith joins the kindergarten through fifth-grade music program as an instructor. She also works with the high school marching band.
Smith graduated from Canton, South Dakota, High School in 2015 and from the University of Sioux Falls. She student-taught at Robert Frost Elementary and Patrick Henry Middle School in Sioux Falls.
She currently lives in Luverne.
Jodi Nelson fills the part-time Title I teacher position. She is also the assistant cross country and track coach.
The Luverne High School Class of 1998 graduate attended college at Augustana University and has been a substitute teacher for Luverne Public Schools.
Previously she taught one year as a part-time fourth-grade teacher and Response to Intervention (RTI) instructor.
Nelson and her husband, Corey, live in Luverne with their children Tenley and MaKena.
Joel Evans comes to Luverne Public Schools as the physical education teacher for grades three, five and seven. He will also be a coach for middle school football and high school wrestling.
Evans graduated from Luverne High School in 2003 and from Minnesota State University-Moorhead.
For the past nine years he taught at Worthington Public Schools.
Evans and his wife, Jenny, live in Brandon, South Dakota, with their two children, Maddox, 5, and Nora, 2.
Monica Edstrom comes to the kindergarten classroom after spending the past three years as a substitute teacher for Luverne Public Schools. She previously student-taught second-graders at Windom Elementary School.
The Luverne High School Class of 2002 graduate attended Minnesota State University-Mankato and received a degree in elementary education.
Edstrom and her husband, Eric, have three children: Macie, 11, Mallorie, 8, and Eddie, 7.