Love for family, teaching and English literature

In one of the glass-walled classrooms in the English wing of the Waseca High School it is possible to find the human equivalent to small town Minnesota. Kind, loyal, compassionate, funny. Having grown up in one of the closest communities in Minnesota (Nassau, population 72) and having taught in one for about 23 years, Tracy Kopetzki knows the close-knit atmosphere and lifestyle probably better than most. 

Living in such a small town, Kopetzki learned to fill many roles and be involved in many things. In high school, she was in band and choir in junior high before focusing on academically demanding classes meant to improve her college experience. That focus left little room in her schedule for music. She played volleyball, competed in cheer, and ran track on the same team as a real life Olympian. 

Kopetzki was also in a group called the Future Leaders of America (FLA) in high school, which is kind of like the FFA program now. Through that, she went to a camp every summer on the campus of the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. Her time there helped her decide that’s where she wanted to attend college to pursue a career in teaching. 

“I knew from [when I was] really, really little,” Kopetzki explains, describing how she used to play school in the family basement with her two younger sisters, using an old chalkboard and some cast-off desks. She says she still loves being a teacher, even though, “it’s more work now than when I was down in the basement.” 

Among other things, Kopetzki credits her interest in the profession to her second-grade teacher, whom she describes as having been tiny, having hair that fell down to her ankles and was usually kept tied in a bun, and who ran marathons. This second-grade teacher was unlike any other, and would play songs on the piano as her students started the day. Kopetzki still remembers “Found a Peanut” and “On Top of Spaghetti” and has taught them to her own children, enjoying the fond memories of learning them as a child. 

It wasn’t until middle school that Kopetzki fell in love with reading and literature. Her teacher at the time was also the librarian at the school. As Kopetzki puts it in a Beauty and the Beast manner, reading “was our only escape from that little tiny town. It’s the thing that made you want to go see the world and go explore.” 

During college, Kopetzki studied abroad in Ireland. The summer before that, she had traveled to Europe and stayed with a foreign exchange student, visiting a number of countries on the continent.. 

Kopetzki graduated college and found a job as a long-term substitute in Malacca, Minnesota, teaching ninth- and tenth-graders. When her boyfriend (now husband) told her that three positions were opening up in Waseca where he was already working as a band director, she wasted no time applying. “I was lucky enough to get one of those positions and I’ve been here ever since. This is year 23– I think that sounds right,” Kopetzki laughs. 

Kopetzki reveals that when she first began in Waseca, students could choose from a wider array of English electives. One of her favorites was Mythology, which she very much enjoyed teaching. Over time, the state began demanding certain requirements and standards, and classes were whittled down to what there are now–a set of required courses which everyone has to take. This reduction also included losing the student newspaper, which had been offered through the business department.

At this time, Kopetzki teaches all of the ninth graders, although she says her husband Craig jokes that “one day he can retire because I’m going to be a famous author…and then he realizes that I don’t actually aspire to do that.” 

Although book signings may not be part of Kopetzki’s future, she did write some poetry in college. In fact, “I restarted a literary magazine on campus,” Kopetzki said. “It was something that had been defunct for about 20 years.” Kopetzki did some writing for the magazine, but was mostly the editor. Which is what she still does now as a teacher, editing student essays all the time. 

“I enjoy reading student work,” Kopetzki explains, “I’m finding that it’s harder and harder to find time to do so. To be honest, the technology slows me down.” Clicks and more clicks to get to each student’s paper or essay become time-consuming, she says, when there are 126 essays to read. Kopetzki says that students are used to written comments, but verbal feedback in the moment is much more valuable. 

Offering feedback and interacting with her students in general were things that Kopetzki says she missed greatly during the pandemic “shut-down.”  While some teachers chose to work from home, Kopetzki went to school every day. “The empty building was just– it crushed my soul,” Kopetzki said.

Working behind a screen, the integrity and level of expectations went down for the students, there were no “ah ha” moments for the teachers to witness, there were no students to interact with. Kopetzki had no choice but to sit at her desk and talk to her students virtually when what she really wanted was to be up and moving and interacting with everyone.  “They’re not just students, they’re our kids,” Kopetzki says, mentioning how many parent-teacher conferences she’s had in a Wal-mart aisle. 

Besides being a teacher at the school, Kopetzki has worn many different “hats.” When she first started in Waseca, she was part of the marching band staff as a woodwind instructor; now she is part of the band boosters. Kopetzki has been an eighth-grade volleyball coach, a speech team coach, and has served other roles as well.  Every year, Kopetzki still plays piano for students at solo/ensemble contests for band and choir, running from room to room on contest night.

Outside of school, Kopetzki regularly serves as an accompanist at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. 

Most importantly, Kopetzki is a parent. “It’s really hard to separate the hats,” she says, but “I really enjoy getting to watch my kids go through school.” As her oldest child graduates next year, and her youngest child will be in her class this fall, Kopetzki laughed saying it is her God-given right as a parent to embarrass her kids in school. 

Having come from tiny Nassau to Waseca, Kopetzki understands the importance of small towns and communities. Now that there are students back in the building and classrooms, Kopetzki is excited to be back as well.