Learn, Grow & Teach

We are pleased to share program news and events from Spring 2025. In this newsletter you'll find...

• celebration of student teachers
• spotlights on student learning experiences
• contact information to keep in touch with our program

Please feel free to forward and share the newsletter with others. We appreciate the continuing connections with alumni and value responses of our community K-12 partners.

Each semester Coe College student teachers present their culminating work and field experiences to a panel of faculty, supervisors, and mentors. The event is a milestone for students as they next move ahead to receive their college diplomas from Coe and teaching licensures from the State of Iowa.

This year is also special as it marks the significant contributions of our program's longtime faculty member Larry Atwater (at left) who retires this May. Atwater is a professor in the Kinesiology Department and works closely with the education program. For more than three decades he has contributed his teaching knowledge, coaching skills and professional guidance to kinesiology and education students, many who now teach their own students in K-12 physical education, health and/or serve as athletic coaches across Iowa and the U.S.

Below, some of the education program's several graduating students and their faculty mentors.

The Coe College Teacher Education program received full accreditation renewal from the Iowa State Board of Education. College Provost Angela Ziskowski (left) and department chair Sarah Kress shared the education program's report and highlights to the board on April 17. All Iowa teacher preparation programs engage in the state accreditation process every seven years.

Each graduation is a moment to highlight outstanding students in Coe Teacher Education and the potential and promise they demonstrate as future educators. Students received the awards at the college's Honors Convocation on May 3.

The Linnie E. Schloeman Prize was established by Ms. Dorothy Schloeman Towner ('21). Ms. Towner initiated this honor in memory of her sister, Linnie, a beloved teacher at Cedar Rapids Woodrow Wilson High School. Annually, there are two recipients of the prize.

• Gracie Kerns is an Elementary Education major and a Schloeman Prize recipient. Gracie is thrilled to have landed a job that takes her back to her hometown of Fairbury, Illinois where she will begin teaching 2nd grade this fall.

• Nick Mattran is the second Schloeman Prize recipient. He is a Kinesiology major and graduates with a minor in secondary education, emphasis in K-12 physical education. Faculty describe him as a Coe leader in education and athletics.

Human Relations Award

• Anita Kopanski is the recipient of the Human Relations Award. Next fall Anita begins her student teaching semester in Cedar Rapids and Marion. The first half of the field placement is with kindergarteners and the second half is with 4th graders.

Educational Leadership Award

• Jocelyn Kendrick receives the Educational Leadership Award. She is an Elementary Education major, adding that accomplishment to an earlier B.A. in Human Resources and service in the U.S. military.

Alumna Kristin Lenz '96 returned for a "Fireside Chat" C3 series. A graduate of the education program and a former elementary teacher in Cedar Rapids, Lenz is also an author, blogger and business owner. Our students loved learning about her path and hearing her wisdom!

Each semester instructor and technologist Lisa Wiebenga Stroschine leads a workshop to establish "ePortfolios", a digital collection and analysis of student learning. Students contribute to their ePortfolios from early coursework through student teaching. Evidence and rationales are part of long-term assessments and serve students as rich repositories of information to demonstrate professional readiness for K-12 teaching.

Above, Foundations of Reading students prep for a discussion and application of reading strategies. EDU 241 is the first in a sequence of courses that can lead students to earn a state endorsement in reading.

Molly Baker - Graduating student Molly Baker '25 presented at the 2025 Coe Symposium in April. Baker is an elementary education major. She shared about her summer internship working with the Women's Golf Association in Philadelphia. Faculty sponsor was Sarah Kress, Chair of Teacher Education.

Jelani Regans - Graduating student Jelani Regans '25 (left) presented at the 2025 Coe Symposium in April. Regans is a history major with coursework in secondary education. He shared his research and writing about intersections of race, community and civics in Iowa schools. Faculty sponsor was Dr. Stacy Haynes-Moore.

More than 30 area K-12 classroom teachers, principals, cooperating teachers, and Coe alumni joined faculty for the 2025 Advisory Board. Teacher-led collaborations centered on experiences of field placements as well as schools' expectations, policies, or practices toward professionalism. Input contributes to Coe's ongoing guidance of students as well as the department's goal to be an aware and responsive partner with area schools.

Coe's team attended the 2025 Iowa Association of Colleges for Teacher Education in Ankeny, IA. Professional development included state updates about licensure, accreditation and Model Code of Ethics for Educators, with additional sessions on literacy, mental health and AI. From left, Dianna Geers, Sarah Kress, Brian Christoffersen, Marlene Bartlett and Stacy Haynes-Moore.

Contact and Connect with us:

• Phone: 319.399.8575
• Office email: bkigin@coe.edu
• Visit: 1220 1st Avenue Northeast, Cedar Rapids, IA, USA
• Web: https://www.coe.edu/academics/majors-areas-study/education