Spanish students are trying to keep up with their changes of teacher.

By Karoline Riisnaes and Delaney Kost

As the calendar flips to March, many students enrolled in Spanish at Central High School are now onto their third Spanish teacher this school year.

At Christmas break, Senorita Desiree Kranz resigned unexpectedly. Central was forced to hire a new teacher and in the search Abbigail Baker, a Spanish student at Black Hills State and former Cobbler, was asked if she knew anyone who would be willing to jump in and take over teaching Spanish One and Three. She decided to step up and leave her own life behind to educate Central High School Spanish students.

With little experience and halfway through the school year, she learned how to teach during a pandemic. According to her students, she did not fail to impress.

“Ms. Baker taught me a lot in the little time she was here. She is really good at connecting with all her kids, especially since she is closer to our age,” says freshman Jacie Stephens, who is enrolled in Spanish One.

The original expectation was for Baker to be here for the rest of the semester, allowing her to complete an internship for her college and the school to have time to find a replacement for the 2021-2022 school year. But this time was cut short since the school already found a replacement.

Some found the second change stressful. “It is a lot for us to have three different teachers in a year and have to adapt to all the different teaching styles,” says Stephens.

Ms. Baker knew that being upset would only make the situation worse and shared her advice on how to deal with it with her students. “Life is 10% what happens and 90% how to react to it,” she said.

She enjoyed her time at Central but will now be taking on new leadership challenges in other places, tutoring and working.