KNODEL REFLECTS ON CAREER ROOTED IN COMPASSION

She started at Freeman Academy before settling in at Menno. With one year left, she is now the SDCTE Teacher of the Year.

Betsy Knodel knew she wanted to pursue a career in a field that would lend itself to helping others, and she initially thought that would be nursing. So, after graduating from Alcester High School as Betsy Ahart in 1980, she took a year off to work as a nurse’s aide at Morningside Manor — the nursing home in her home community — and discovered it wasn’t for her.

“A lot of needles and blood,” she says. “I had the empathy to be a nurse, but I did not have the stomach for it.”

So she pivoted and instead pursued a career in education, a decision that was fully embraced and nurtured by her mom, who along with Betsy’s dad, Neil — a World War II veteran, farmer, and pastor with the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church — raised six children after moving from Iowa to South Dakota when Betsy was two.

In fact, Betsy says, the kindness and compassion showed by her mom has served as a model for her own 38-year career as a high school English and fine arts teacher, first at Freeman Academy and then at Menno, where she will work one more year before settling into retirement.

“She was a cheerleader for her children and other people’s children,” Betsy says of her mom, Eileen. “She would see something in you that probably you didn’t even see yourself. She was the driving force for all that we did.”

Eileen wasn’t a teacher herself, but rather a homemaker, but Betsy had an aunt who was — out in Washington State — and that connection solidified her decision to pursue a degree in education.

That career path also reflected a trait she picked up from her dad — a love for always wanting to know more.

“That’s who he was,” she says. “He didn’t stop and let things get in his way; he pushed through and got what he wanted for his life.”

Two years after her high school graduation, Betsy enrolled at Concordia University, a small, Christ-centered liberal arts college in St. Paul, and four years after that, she graduated with a degree in secondary education and English language arts. But she didn’t enter the education workforce immediately. Instead, she took some time to regroup following her mom’s passing her senior year at Concordia, and her dad’s subsequent move to Clayton.

“I moved up there with him to get my bearings and then started applying for jobs,” she said.

When she couldn’t find a good fit, she spent a year working at a factory in Freeman before finding employment at Freeman Academy in 1987.

“I loved it,” says Betsy, who in addition to teaching high school English and literature was involved in theater and oral interpretation, involved in chapels and small choirs that sang at area churches, and also learned photography through Shirley Hart, the yearbook advisor in those early years.

In 1988, Mrs. Betsy Ahart became Mrs. Betsy Knodel after her marriage to Keith, and her new life as a partner and professional was underway.

Betsy spent eight years teaching at Freeman Academy, taking a break following the birth of their son, Shane, in 1994, before taking a job at Menno in 1997 not long after learning that Shane had autism.

“I knew that I was a good mom, but not a good stay-at-home mom,” says Betsy, who had done some substitute teaching at Freeman, Marion and Menno in the interim. “I needed that socialization and that working with other people, and (Shane) needed to be out with his peers in special education preschool.”

Menno was a good fit immediately, and — as had been the case at Freeman Academy — in addition to her role as high school English teacher, she found herself heavily involved in the fine arts.

“It’s a good place to be,” says Betsy, who has been a staple there since that first year back in 1997. “I love my job, I love the people I work with, have learned to know some really great families, and I’m now on the second generation of students. Menno is just a very special community to me that rises to the occasion. If you say, ‘I need this in my classroom,’ or put out a call for somebody to come in and do something for your kids, there’s a pretty fast response.

“I’ve always appreciated the support we get for doing the things that we do.”

Broder picture

Somewhere along the way, Betsy became involved with the South Dakota Council of Teachers of English (SDCTE), an organization founded in 1941, an organization focused on providing resources and support, and empowering English, speech and literature teachers at all levels.

“I treasure my membership with the SDCTE,” she says. “This organization is filled with amazing educators from across the state who are willing to help anyone with whatever situation they may have in their classroom. I have benefited from the opportunities this organization provides and have been able to take those lessons learned and apply them in my classroom.”

Betsy says she has also sponsored people to become members of the organization, “because I understand how important it is for teachers to have a network of like-minded educators who do their best to help in each and every situation.

“I am blessed by having them as part of my life, and so are my students.”

And what has Betsy received in return? Well, in addition to that invaluable support system, she was also honored as the 2025 SDCTE Teacher of the Year at the organization’s summer conference in Oacoma Monday, June 9 — an award made possible thanks to nomination letters and a selection inked by the SDCTE board of directors.

In her remarks upon announcing the recipient — undisclosed, even to Betsy — Nicole Finnesand, SDCTE president, said the following:

“It is my great privilege to introduce someone whose impact cannot be measured by lesson plans or test scores but by the countless lives they have touched over an incredible teaching career,” she said. “This year’s Teacher of the Year has dedicated decades to shaping minds, nurturing hearts, and inspiring generations of students. As her principal has stated, Betsy is a ‘master of her craft’ who brings experience, talent, and an absolute joy of learning to her classroom. Whether she is attending learning opportunities with us or is in her classroom, elbows deep in hands-on novel projects and writing revisions, she shares wisdom, patience, and a deep love for learning.

“As a colleague stated, ‘Betsy has such a love of learning. Her creative ways in the classroom not only show her love of reading but also enhance her students’ love for novels.’

“From her nomination letter: ‘Since getting to know Betsy, I have truly come to look at her as a mentor and friend. I strongly value her opinion on all things education. She always brings her years of experience and vast knowledge of teaching English, working with students, and balancing the expectations of administration and your community to every conversation that I have with her. Her perspective on how teaching has changed and grown provides so many opportunities for reflection of my own teaching practice and craft. Her willingness to look at new teaching methods and explore her teaching craft even in the twilight of her career shows all of us that there is never a time to quit learning. Great teachers never stop learning, and Betsy is a shining example of this. She has attended many SDCTE conferences, book studies, and Summer YOUniversity events. Betsy is not afraid to tell it how it is and still keep everything in balance. She also knows how to touch people’s hearts. Every time I see Betsy, whether it is at an SDCTE event or out in the Oral Interp/One-Act world, she always has a hug to give and smile to share. All teachers in South Dakota would be lucky to have someone like Betsy in their corner and cheering them on. I strongly recommend Betsy Knodel as our 2025 SDCTE Teacher of the Year.”

“I would echo these words as I also find them to be true,” Finnesand concluded. “Betsy is always one to engage in new learning grounded in her experience and reflective of the students she encounters in Menno. She is creative, willing to try new things and quick with a smile and caring conversation. Betsy has been a mentor, a motivator, a role model, and a steady presence in a world that is constantly changing for our students. She embraces change while still holding firmly to what matters most: connecting with students and helping each one find their path. The successes of her students and the admiration of her colleagues are her legacy.”

“To say I am humbled is an understatement,” Betsy wrote on Facebook that night, noting that the remarks of appreciation brought tears to her eyes. “I am blessed so greatly by God, so to him goes all the glory!”

Knodel says she was on the fence about attending the SDCTE summer conference but was encouraged to go by Mudder, and Knodel assumed it was because Mudder was good friends with a colleague who was speaking at the conference. It wasn’t until her name was read at the conclusion of Finnesand’s introduction that Knodel discovered the reason Mudder — who knew of the award ahead of time — insisted she come.

“I was completely and totally shocked,” Betsy said. “Listening to them say what other people across the state had said about me as a teacher was humbling. Just very proud.”

Full circle

There’s little question that Betsy’s kind, measured and every-kid-counts approach — while certainly not unique to her — is what has made her such a beloved teacher for so long. And as her journey demonstrates, getting there wasn’t necessarily easy.

Her time spent at Concordia was challenging. A move from small-town Middle Americana to a larger metropolis like the Twin Cities was an adjustment in and of itself, let alone the fact that the college was in a tough neighborhood. Her student teaching at St. Paul Central High School was just east of Concordia on Marshall Avenue, with a lot of gang activity, cops on all corners, and a stabbing on the front steps of the school the week before she started as a student teacher.

“I’m like, ‘I can’t do this,’” Betsy says. “And my dad’s like, ‘Yes you can.’”

She did, and it ended up being a positive experience that produced several key takeaways.

One was that she wanted to be in a smaller district.

The other — and one that has ended up being a defining quality in a teacher that has touched the lives of thousands — is that the practice of compassion and empathy is at her core; the fundamental truth that every student deserves respect, and a stone-solid belief that a personalized approach is paramount in responding to situational reality.

“We as educators have to understand the kids that we have in our classrooms,” Betsy says. “We understand the parents that we’re dealing with, and you try to use as much empathy and as much support as you can for everybody, because sometimes they’re dealing with things that they have no control over, and you have to be able to help that kid even when they’re going through a tough time.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all career,” she says. “You have to be flexible.”

In the three school years Mudder has been at Menno, she has seen it firsthand and noted how Betsy’s positive influence is woven deeply in the tapistry that runs through the staff and, in return, the students at Menno High School.

“It’s her ability to reach the kids, and not just in a way to build the relationships,” said Mudder. “She goes three steps beyond to grab those kids and bring them in.”

She points to a nine-week arts elective in which a special needs student was physically limited, so Betsy went out and bought a tool to make the work easier, and a literature assignment on the Holocaust in which she gave students who struggled reading a hands-on project instead.

“She pulls them all close,” said Mudder. “It’s that willingness to keep everyone connected and make sure that no child is slipping through the cracks. Treating students with care and love, while watching them learn and do, is something our entire staff does, but Betsy does that exceptionally well.”

But for not much longer.

Betsy says she’s coming to the end of the line, which no doubt comes with a range of mixed emotions, but she can’t yet speak to how it makes her feel.

“That will be a question for May, when I’m like, ‘Am I seriously going to do this?” she says. “But right now it feels good knowing that I’ve done what I set out to do — that’s I’ve made a difference in the lives of some people.”

Some?

Try thousands — the writer included.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Betsy Knodel was Jeremy Waltner’s English teacher, theater director and oral interpretation coach at Freeman Academy from 1990 to 1994.