Stephanie Marquardt and Gary Thury teach 5th grade at Bridgewater-Emery Elementary School. Bridgewater-Emery is one of three schools in the state that received the Blue Ribbon Schools Award for 2023, which identifies high-performing schools throughout the nation. Part of what makes the school shine is Marquardt and Thury’s 5th grade student council program.

How long have you been teaching?
Steph: I’m in my 18th year at Bridgewater-Emery. I taught special ed and 1st grade for quite a while before I found my way to 5th grade.

Gary: This is my 7th year of teaching. I taught in Huron and Sioux Falls for five years, then left education for four years. I came back to it two years ago at Bridgewater-Emery.

Why did you go back?
Gary: The pandemic got me back into the classroom. When Covid hit, I found myself feeling kind of useless. I was working at a job as an optometrist’s assistant, and that was okay, but I saw all of this need for people in education, and that was the driving force to get back into it. I saw a place where I could make a difference, where it mattered if I was there, and I went for it.

What made you go into teaching?
Steph: I have always loved working with kids. I got my first job babysitting when I was in fifth grade. And then later I did daycare. I just always wanted to become a teacher and work with kids. Even through high school, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. So I went to Mount Marty College, which is a great school for education, and now, 18 years later, here I am.

Gary: I remember I was a junior in high school, and I was freaking out because all my friends knew what they wanted to do, but I didn’t know. I talked to my counselor, Mrs. Mills. I remember sitting down and she said, “What do you think about being an elementary teacher?” And I laughed. I liked music, so I went to college, studying music, and I was talking to my professor there about what I would do with a degree in music, and she said the same thing – “What do you think about elementary ed?” And I wasn’t sure at first, but I signed up for some classes in education, and after a while, I realized that I loved it. I went to Mount Marty, which has an excellent education program. They’ve got a really great program out there, and they set me up to do well in the classroom. I know so many great teachers that have come from there.

What is the best part of teaching?
Steph: It’s the students, their personalities. I love getting to know them and making connections with them. I love to be a part of their lives, to watch them grow. They’re 5th graders, so they come with some independence, but they come in there excited, too.

Gary: My favorite part is when students start discovering what their passion is. When they start connecting to a content area, and they find that spark in science or math or social studies that’s going to lead them to whatever their future career is.

What’s the most challenging part of teaching?
Steph: Staying up to date with learning technology can be a challenge for me. Luckily, I have great staff to go to with my questions, but change for anyone is hard. I also try to find professional development opportunities that’ll help me grow in this area. I guess maybe it’s just part of my “old school” roots. Just like my students, I’m learning and growing right along with them.

Gary: I would mimic the thing that Steph is saying here too. We’re dealing with things that are so new and so different. And every generation has the kind of issue that is new, and we don’t know how to approach it. There’s always something new that advances and challenges us; it changes how we need to teach children how to interact with the new stuff.

And the thing is, we have different issues, but we also have kids who react differently to the new things, and we have to keep that in mind too. You need to manage each kid differently – what works for one does not always work for every other. How do you provide everyone with what they need while being fair to everyone else? That, for me, is the most challenging part of teaching.

If you could go back in time and give yourself some advice at the start of your career, what would that advice be?
Steph: Slow down. Take it in, realize that I can’t do everything. This quote, “You can do anything, but not everything,” is so important for me to remember. At first, I put too much on my plate, and I have to remember now that it’s okay to say no. My personality is very much that of a pleaser – I want to take care of everyone. But it’s important for me to take what I can handle and know that’s enough.

Gary: The advice I would give myself is that it’s okay to take it one step at a time, to not know everything right away. It’s okay if you do only one thing right today; that’s okay. Just keep working at it and try again.

What is student leadership?
Steph: Student leadership is giving students a voice, letting them know that they are a part of the school as much as the teachers, staff, and community. It’s letting them make choices, which gives them a voice. If they don’t have that, it makes them feel less connected to their school and those in the school.

Gary: It gives them a sense of belonging or a sense of additional value. We allow them that leadership to make changes, which gives them a little bit of ownership over their own lives.

How do you foster student leadership in school?
Steph: A lot of what we do with our 5th grade student council involves the community in some way. We do visits to nursing homes, we have reading buddies, we go to the senior center, and we go on field trips. The leadership part comes from having the kids do the planning. They make the decisions of what they’re going to do, and how they’re going to do it. When I taught 1st grade, we would do a lot of the same things, but it was at a lower level, and when we did that, the teacher would have to make all of the plans, make all of the decisions. But at a 5th grade level, they can take ownership of it, and that makes the difference.

Gary: When she was doing it with her 1st graders, it was teacher-led. Now it’s student-led. Students are deciding how it’s going to work. That’s the challenge.

What is one thing that people (non-teachers) don’t seem to know about teaching?
Gary: The constant barrage of questions, due-dates, and emails we get. The mental fatigue that teachers have at the end of the day is real. I wish people outside of education could understand how much your brain has to work when you’re an elementary teacher.

Steph: We are so many people in one person. The amount of questions we answer in a day would amaze them. It’s not just questions from a lesson. It comes from recess and lunch – it’s amazing! Talking kids though their feelings, or a thing that happened at recess, or something they’re feeling because of what’s going on at home. It can be mentally exhausting. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love what I do.