1999 Minnesota Paraprofessional of the Year:
Linda Ehrenberg
Contributed by Tom Cherveny, staff writer,
West Central Tribune,
Willmar Minnesota
There are people smart enough to build bridges over wide rivers, and others clever enough to send men to the moon.
And, there are people so smart and clever they can get kids who hate math to learn how to add and subtract and have fun doing it.
Meet Linda Ehrenberg. Her gift for helping young students at the Milan Elementary School won her recognition as the 1999 Minnesota Paraprofessional of the Year.
"Linda is so exceptional," said Carol Baker, the school's special education instructor who had originally nominated Ehrenberg for the state award. Baker took the podium on May 21 as the school's 140 students in grades four, five, and six joined in the gymnasium to honor their award winner.
Baker figured out a long time ago why Ehrenberg is so effective at what she does. Her quick humor and upbeat nature certainly help, but her real success owes to an uncanny ability. "She saw the strengths in each child to reach their hardest area," said Baker.
It is her job. As a paraprofessional, Ehrenberg is assigned to work one-on-one with students who face challenges of many sorts. She works with handicapped children, and those with learning and behavior disabilities.
Always, she's asked to help them master the very thing they are having the most trouble with, be it math, English, or basic things like coordination skills.
A block, nail and hammer were what it took to help a young Down syndrome child develop the hand-to-eye coordination he lacked."He pounded, pounded, pounded," laughed Ehrenberg as she described the teaching aid she devised for him.
She can't explain how she comes up with the one thing that seems to work best with a given child, but she'll admit this much. They are not always conventional.
The elementary student who just could not do art revealed a hidden artistic flare when Ehrenberg suggested he develop his own sweatshirt design. The sweatshirt no longer fits him, but the boy's father wrote a letter nominating Ehrenberg for her award that pointed out this simple fact: The high school student still holds on to that sweatshirt as one of his most cherished possessions.
She doesn't know what happened to the macramé she encouraged another student to create. Aware of his eyesight problems, she figured he would excel if he could use his sense of touch instead.
She knows what happened to the project of another student. The youngster quickly picked up on the importance of reading and knowing his measurements when it came down to following a recipe for pudding. The proud chef loved the stuff, and didn't mind sharing it with others, either.
Ehrenberg refuses to take the credit herself for any of these accomplishments. The success she's seen at the school are a credit to all of those around her, she insists.
It takes a team effort of parents, teacher, and paraprofessional to achieve the best results, she said. No one is better than those around t hem, according to Ehrenberg. "It's all those who you're with. They make you grow, too," she said.
She happens to have the good fortune of being around people who naturally lift the bar, she explained.
Ehrenberg sees other reasons for the success around her, too. The small school has the advantage of being able to take a personal approach to helping students. It's also fortunate enough to have Principal Al Stoeckman, who knows how to let staff members do what they do best, she said.
When it came to Ehrenberg, the person who happened to know her potential best of all was Renee Tostenson, a kindergarten teacher in the Appleton School.
That was over 13 years ago, when Ehrenberg volunteered to help in the class as her youngest daughter began her school years. Tostenson recognized Ehrenberg's talents, and demanded that she apply for a paraprofessional position that opened in the district.
She did, and 13 years ago began helping an extremely shy Down syndrome child as he made his way through the grades. She followed the student to Milan Elementary seven years ago, where they've known better than to let her go.
The student, Travis Runia, has since moved on, but he returned for the award ceremony in Ehrenberg's honor. Runia never blinked an eye as he calmly walked in front of student-packed bleachers and expressed his gratitude to her.
Other students did so too, but this audience already knew much of what Ehrenberg had accomplished.
What they didn't always know was this: The paraprofessional who arrives every day with a smile to help others hasn't been without her own challenges in life. This has hardly been a lucrative year for her husband Richard's hog operation near Correll.
Nor has it been an easy year for other reasons. Their barn caught fire, and one of her parents, and one of her husband's, have dealt with health problems.
Add to that, the changes that come with watching the youngest child leave home for college.
None of this was mentioned by Ehrenberg, who preferred to talk about her surprise that people would put so much effort into honoring her for doing what she loves to do.
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