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Some new and familiar faces at Blue Earth Area this fall

By Staff | Sep 4, 2016

Blue Earth Area’s new teacher line up are, from left to right, Shannon Swanson, Hannah Loefke, Bailey Gummer, Lenor May Ehvan and Sydney Ristau.

The first day of school at Blue Earth Area will be on Tuesday, Sept. 6 for the high school, and on Thursday, Sept. 8 for the middle and elementary schools.

When the students return to their classrooms this year, they will find five new members of the teaching staff to meet them.

But, not all of the new faces will be strangers, as some of the new teachers are familiar with the halls of Blue Earth Area Schools.

Here is a look at the five new staff members.

Leonor May Ehvan

After being without a Spanish teacher for the last half of last school year, Blue Earth Area welcomes Leonor May Ehvan to the staff as the new Spanish teacher.

Ehvan taught for several years in Mexico before moving to Minnesota. Her last teaching position before making the move to BEA was in Truman, where she taught for the last eight years.

She received her B.A. degree in teaching languages from the University of Tobasco in Mexico. Then she received her master’s degree in education at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

She and her husband, Richard Lund, have a nine-year-old son, Dominick Lund.

Shannon Swanson

BEA High School alumnus Shannon Swanson is the new Youth Development Coordinator at Blue Earth Area.

Swanson attended the University of Minnesota where she first received a B.S. degree with a sports management/marketing major. Then she attended the U of M for her graduate work and received a masters of education – kinesiology degree.

Swanson previously taught health and physical education courses at Winona State University.

She and her husband, Colby Swanson, have two children; daughter Ella, 3, and son Drew, 1.

Hannah Loefke

The new sixth and seventh grade English teacher at BEA is Hannah Loefke.

Loefke says she is very excited to be at BEA for her very first year of teaching. She is a graduate of Northern State University.

She is from Yankton, S.D., where most of her family lives.

Loefke’s fiance, Jacob Brower, is a also a teacher, in Winnebago.

Sydney Ristau

Another Blue Earth Area High School graduate, Sydney Ristau is the new elementary special education teacher.

This will be her first teaching assignment, but she did do her student teaching at Fairmont High School and Elementary School.

She is a graduate of Southwest Minnesota State University where she majored in elementary education and special education.

Her family lives in Blue Earth and includes her mother, Sharon, father, Mark, sister Alex and brother-in-law James.

Bailey Gummer

Bailey Gummer is the new second grade teacher at BEA, but she is not exactly new to the system.

Last spring she spent half the school year as a long term kindergarten substitute teacher.

She is a graduate of Dakota Wesleyan University with B.A. degrees in elementary education and special education.

She is from Brookings, S.D., where her family lives. They include her father, Monte, mother, Sheila, and sister, Mariah (19). Her boyfriend is Joey Fitzgerald, of Fairmont.