At New Ulm High School (NUHS), a new student teacher from Minnesota State University (MSU) is getting hands-on experience in the classroom while working with first-year economics teacher Ms. Novacek and with a 6-year history teacher, Mr. Nessler. Ms. Bazinet, who started her student teaching assignment in March, and her last day is April 10, shared her story and what she hopes to achieve in her future.

Ms. Bazinet is currently a student at MSU, working toward her goal of becoming a teacher. She explained that she decided to go into teaching because she really enjoyed high school herself and has always had a strong interest in history and economics. She enjoys the active classroom environment and says, “I don’t want to sit behind a desk all day” and instead, to interact with students throughout the day.

She received the opportunity to teach at New Ulm High School through recommendations from her professors at MSU. The connections she had at her university opened the doors to NUHS and so far, she’s been enjoying the school and the people she’s met along the way. Although Ms. Bazinet likes the school and its environment, she said that “the town is too small, and there’s not much to do.” She was referring to New Ulm’s small town population of roughly 14,000 people, compared to Mankato’s 46,000 people.

In the future, Ms. Bazinet hopes to continue teaching and eventually work her way up to becoming a college professor specializing in economics.

In her free time, Ms. Bazinet enjoys spending time with friends, watching anime, and playing Dungeons & Dragons. She feels that being a young student teacher helps her relate to her students because they have similar interests and follow the same trends on social media.