From parent to staff member

Trinity Lutheran School of Janesville has a new administrative assistant.  Jacqie Malzahn is enjoying her first month on the job, and can’t wait for school to resume this fall.

“This job has been a blessing,” she states.

Malzahn is very familiar with the Lutheran school setting. She grew up in Truman and attended school at St. Paul’s Lutheran, eventually graduating from Truman’s public system. She attended the pre-med program at the University of Minnesota Duluth and earned her degree in biology with a minor in psychology.

“I was going to be a doctor,” she explains. “But I decided that wasn’t the path I wanted to take.”

Instead, she withdrew from the pre-med track and went back to school to get her certified medical assistant (CMA) certificate and started working in the Mankato Clinic’s endoscopy center in 2010. However, she still wasn’t satisfied with the career path she took. “Working during the Covid pandemic wore me down to the point that I was ready for a break from the medical field. I wanted a change of pace.”

As soon as she thought about taking a break, “God provided.” Long-time office assistant Marylynn Riesch decided to retire after many years at Trinity Lutheran Schools.

Malzahn was very familiar with both Janesville and Trinity. “My family and I have lived in Janesville for 12 years,” she shares. “I preferred a small town with a Christian elementary school.”

When she heard Riesch was retiring, she saw it as a great opportunity to change her life a bit. “The move made sense,” she says. “My kids attend Trinity, and we live five blocks away from the school.”

Malzahn accepted the position and started in early August. As an indoctrination, Riesch gave her two and half weeks of training before officially retiring.

“I like to joke that I learned all of Marylynn’s secrets,” she explains. “I thought about making a cheat sheet for when people ask me questions called, ‘What would Marylynn do?’ She’s passed down a lot of great information to me. I definitely have big shoes to fill.”

In her first few weeks as the administrative assistant, Malzahn has already felt the many changes. As she describes it, “I was working my tail off at the Mankato Clinic. Here, I am still very busy, but it’s a different type of busy. I’m not exhausted to the point where I can’t hang out with my family anymore.”

While she’s not doing as much running around as she used to at the clinic, she still plays an important role in keeping Trinity Schools running. “I wait on the principal as much as possible,” Malzahn explains. “I also help grease the gears of the school to help keep things flowing.”

She admits that there have been quite a few things to learn. “I didn’t know how much was involved in getting the school running. As a parent, you don’t realize how much is needed to make it all run smoothly for the students, staff, and families. It gives a unique perspective going from a parent on the outside to a staff member on the inside.”

She also has an added appreciation of the teachers and other staff at Trinity Lutheran. “They are a great group of people,” she states. “They all have really good ideas and care about the kids. I have a lot more awareness about what the teachers do within a smaller school like ours.”

Malzahn expects to acquire a more complete understanding of her position when school is in session. But so far, she’s liking everything about her job and the closeness of the Trinity Lutheran community.

“Like I said, it’s a different type of busy,” Malzahn says. “But I love a good challenge. I feel like I’m fitting in pretty well.”