Blue Earth Area’s new teachers for the 2023-24 school year are pictured above. In the back row, left to right, are Trinity Seedorf, Tanner Nawrocki, Ethan Davide, Nick Milbrandt, Katie Mullaly and Kate Maloney. In the front row, left to right, are Elise Volz, Brittany Eckhardt, Nicole Uecker and Hayley Jahnke.

The Blue Earth Area (BEA) School District will welcome 10 new faces to its teaching staff for the 2023-24 school year.

These new Bucs include Ethan Davide, Brittany Eckhardt, Hayley Jahnke, Kate Maloney, Nick Milbrandt, Katie Mullaly, Tanner Nawrocki, Trinity Seedorf, Nicole Uecker and Elise Volz.

BEA High School teachers – both old and new - will start classes on Sept. 5, while BEA Elementary School will invite students back to the building on Sept. 7.

Ethan Davide

Davide will teach language arts at BEA High School this fall.

He is a graduate of Waseca High School and Gustavus Adolphus College.

Davide completed his first year of teaching at Wabasha-Kellogg High School, and he is excited to begin his second year of teaching at BEA.

He is the oldest of five siblings, and he also has two puppies back home: Star and Mr. Bojangles.

Brittany Eckhardt

Eckhardt will join the BEA High School teaching staff as a part-time chemistry teacher.

The Maple Lake High School graduate attended MSU-Mankato to earn her B.S. in biochemistry, and she is currently earning her Master of Arts in teaching at MSU.

Eckhardt taught undergraduate biology labs at MSU and completed her field experience at BEA High School in the spring of 2021.

Her husband, Dan, farms with his family who lives just across the street. Eckhardt’s parents still live in her home town of Maple Lake.

Hayley Jahnke

BEA graduate Jahnke is returning to her alma mater as a third grade teacher.

She attended Winona State University to earn her Bachelor’s Degree in elementary education, and she completed her student teaching in a fifth grade classroom at Martin County West.

Jahnke’s family – her mother, Tarra Hedland, brother, Jacob Hedland, and sister, Marianna Rincon – are also BEA graduates.

Kate Maloney

Maloney will be teaching fourth grade at BEA Elementary School this fall.

She has a B.S. in animal science from Oklahoma State University, and a B.S. in elementary education from Oklahoma Panhandle State University.

Maloney has been teaching since 2004. She and her husband recently moved to Blue Earth from Oklahoma, and they are excited about this new journey.

They have three kids who are either attending OSU, or have graduated from OSU.

Nick Milbrandt

BEA graduate Milbrandt will join the district’s high school staff as an agricultural education teacher.

Milbrandt studied agricultural education, communication and leadership at South Dakota State University. He is currently attending South Dakota State to earn his Master’s in agricultural education.

Milbrandt has 11 years of teaching experience under his belt, including nine years at Morris Area Schools and two years at Minnewaska Area Schools in Glenwood.

Milbrandt’s large family includes his parents, Ross Milbrandt and Tammy Maine, and siblings: Ryan, and sister-in-law Erin, and Kate and brother-in-law Ryan. He counts Troy and Michele Stindtman as his bonus parents, and Danika, Tanner and Trenton as his bonus siblings.

Katie Mullaly

Mullaly is joining the BEA Elementary teaching team as a first grade teacher.

She is a graduate of Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa, where she majored in creative writing and minored in humanities and psychology.

Mullaly was a substitute teacher for the BEA School District last year, and she earned her teaching degree through Minnesota’s Tiers without Fears licensing system.

She currently lives in Blue Earth with her boyfriend, Chris Van de Hey, and their three cats: Rex, Ollie and Opal. Mullaly’s parents, Tim and Marianne, live just down the road, and her brothers, Jon and Ben, also live in the area.

Tanner Nawrocki

Nawrocki will be serving as a K-12 intervention specialist at BEA High School.

He grew up in the East Chain area and graduated from Granada-Huntley-East Chain High School. Nawrocki went on to study physical education at the University of St. Thomas.

Trinity Seedorf

BEA High School will welcome Seedorf as an eighth grade math student teacher this fall. She will be student teaching in two classrooms, and she will also be an assistant tennis coach.

Seedorf is finishing her Bachelor’s degree in secondary math education at Winona State University, with a minor in coaching.

Seedorf’s parents are Steve and Terri Seedorf, and she has three siblings: Tiffany, Tanner and Trey. Her fiancé is Perrin Finn.

Nicole Uecker

Uecker will be teaching third grade at BEA Elementary School.

She attended Winona State University to receive her Bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an early childhood emphasis and a minor in Spanish.

This will be Uecker’s first year of teaching. She student taught in Arcadia, Wisconsin, and brings over 200 hours of field experience in grades K-5 to BEA.

Uecker is a native of Appleton, Wisconsin, where she grew up with her older sister. Uecker’s parents still live in Appleton, along with her family’s teddy bear dog, Macy. Uecker’s sister now lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Elise Volz

Volz will be teaching eighth grade STEM and 10th grade biology at BEA High School.

She received her Bachelor of Science in middle school science and life science education from MSU-Mankato. She earned her Master of Arts in natural science and environmental education from Hamline University.

This will be Volz’s 14th year of teaching. She taught at ROCORI High School in Cold Spring for two years, and she taught 7-12 science in the Glenville-Emmons School District for 11 years.

Volz lives in Frost with her husband, Travis, her two children, Grant and Carly, and her dog, Sage.