Mrs. Kersten is a Cultural Anthropology teacher here at Bishop Manogue, an Ivy league graduate, and… a rancher? Surprisingly, Mrs. Kersten lives on a large piece of property in Palamino Valley, where she has ten horses, three cats, and one dog!
Mrs. Kersten grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, a small town bordering Lake Michigan. Racine is known for making farming equipment, such as tractors, which Mrs. K reflects in her life today by having her own! She uses her small tractor to clear snow and manure off of her property. Kersten also went to Catholic school nearly all of her life, with the exception being college. She says that going to Catholic school, K-12, truly changed who she is and how she teaches. Mrs. K learned from her own education, how to teach, and her teaching style centers around helping her students grow, form their own opinions, and make their own decisions.
While Kersten is an amazing teacher here at Manogue, she is an entirely different person when she gets home! She has fourteen animals to take care of, and while she that taking care of the horses and her other animals is generally easy, but it can be difficult when one of them gets injured. Seven, one of their horses, cut open his foot and needed to get stitches. She and her husband brought him to the vet, but a week ago the stitches opened again- hopefully, Seven’s foot will heal properly.
Speaking of animals, there are many that visit Mrs. K and her husband at their house. Antelope, deer, cows, wild horses, and once, even a tarantula! She says that she enjoys seeing the wildlife so close to her house, as does Mr. Kersten. As someone who really enjoys seeing wildlife, I can definitely relate. Even the sight of cows in a field is something fun to see while you’re out on a long drive to the middle of nowhere!
A few wild horses come by to say hello!
Some of the antelope Mrs. Kersten sometimes sees around her house.
Cows are very common to see, especially where Mrs. Kersten lives.
While she does enjoy seeing most of the animals that come by her house, Mrs. Kersten is not the biggest fan of spiders or snakes on her property. Despite this, a tarantula showed up to her house last summer uninvited. “I put him in a container and chucked him into the neighbor’s yard,” she says, highlighting how eager she was to get the spider away from her. Out of all the animals to see in one’s backyard, I think most people, including myself, would not want to see a large spider. However, the other animals that come by, such as the horses and antelope above, are more than welcome to say hello.
The aforementioned tarantula Mrs. K found in her yard.
While Mrs. Kersten says that she doesn’t like spiders or snakes, she can definitely say she enjoys teaching at Bishop Manogue. So if you have Mrs. K as your teacher, make sure she feels appreciated! She does her best to make sure that her students are learning with her Kahoots, Blookets, and Quizlets, and is always up for answering questions. She really is an awesome teacher! Thanks for reading, and thanks for meeting the Miner.
