CJ Holstine (PKA Kelly) (born 17 December 1973) is an American educator, teacher trainer, public speaker, writer, Equity 2.0 consultant, and the owner of WordHaven BookHouse, LLC, [1] in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. They were formerly an English teacher at Tokata Learning Center, an alternative high school in Shakopee, Minnesota, and an adjunct professor at Augsburg University. They were named the 2018/2019 Minnesota Teacher of the Year by Education Minnesota. [2]
Holstine is a native of Fairmont, Minnesota, graduating from Fairmont Public Schools in 1992. Among other influential teachers, Holstine credits Paula Thiede, their fifth-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, for making them feel like they mattered, that they were intelligent and were loved. [3]
After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from the University of Massachusetts, they worked at print and television media outlets before providing case management for students who dropped out of high school. They received their Communication Arts & Literature teaching license in 2007 and their Master of Arts in education in 2011, both from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [4]
Holstine taught Communication Arts & English Literature courses, advised Gender Sexuality Alliances, and facilitated Link Crew Programs at Chaska High School in Chaska, Minnesota, and St. Anthony Village High School in St. Anthony, Minnesota, before becoming a teacher at the Tokata Learning Center. There they taught Communication Arts & English Literature courses to students between 9th and 12th grade, was a Curriculum Writer for the Success for the Future Grant, and was the advisor for the MAAP Stars student leadership program. [5] [6] Tokata Learning Center is an alternative high school that serves 9th to 12th grade in Shakopee and surrounding areas. [7] In her Teacher of the Year application, Holstine wrote this about their students at Tokata: "It is true that our population can consist of students with varying abilities and temperaments, but these same students are also some of the most creative and brilliant humans with whom I have ever worked. And, without fail, the students who arrive angry, sad, hurt, and/or scared reveal their vulnerability, brilliance, and beautiful selves when they feel safe and valued." One year after being named Minnesota Teacher of the Year, Holstine shifted to training teachers and teachers-in-training (among other adults). [8]
Holstine began her Equity 2.0 Consulting business [9] in 2018. They work with schools, nonprofits, and businesses to increase their inclusivity and compassionate accountability. [10]
On July 8, 2019, OutFront Minnesota announced Holstine had been hired as the LGBTQIAP2S+ civil rights group's Director of Educational Equity. [11] On June 26, 2020, Holstine resigned from OutFront MN.
Holstine was an adjunct education professor at Augsburg University from September 2020 - May 2021. [12] [13]
Holstine's Independent BookShop and Writing Center, WordHaven BookHouse, [14] opened on 4/30/22 in Sheboygan, WI. [15]
In the Fall of 2017 Holstine was nominated by Shakopee Public Schools professional learning coordinator Annie Rients and Tokata Learning Center principal Eric Serbus for Education Minnesota's Minnesota Teacher of the Year award, one of 167 candidates nominated across the state. [16] She was among 43 semifinalists and 12 finalists. They were named Minnesota Teacher of the Year on May 6, 2018. Holstine is the first out LGBTQIAP2+ individual to be named Minnesota Teacher of the Year and only the second Alternative Educator. She is the 54th recipient of the award and the first (and only) from the Shakopee district. [17]
In one of Holstine's responses posed by the Education Minnesota panel, they explained their teaching practice: "I chose to be a teacher at a non-traditional age. Ten years later, my teaching practice still strongly matches this philosophy: teaching individuals to effectively solve problems, allowing students to learn by doing, giving students an active role in the learning process, and valuing the process of learning more than the outcome, respecting the whole of the child and creating a ‘community of learners’ – as opposed to a collection of discrete individuals." [18]
As the 2018 award winner, in 2019 Holstine was Minnesota's representative for the National Teacher of the Year program in Washington, D.C. [19] They chose not to attend to protest the policies of President Donald Trump, saying those policies frequently hurt their students who face discrimination. [20]
Holstine chose to kneel during the national anthem at the NCAA football championship game on January 13, 2020 as a way to support the BLM movement and to advocate for people with identities that are historically marginalized and oppressed. [21] Holstine explained her reasons for kneeling in an article published in The Independent [22] and in her TED-Ed Talk. [23]
Carver County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The county is mostly farmland and wilderness with many unincorporated townships. As of the 2020 census, the population was 106,922. Its county seat is Chaska. Carver County is named for explorer Jonathan Carver, who in 1766–67, traveled from Boston to the Minnesota River and wintered among the Sioux near the site of New Ulm. Carver County is part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Chaska is a city in and the county seat of Carver County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 27,810 at the 2020 census. An outer ring suburb of the Twin Cities, Chaska is home to the Hazeltine National Golf Club and is known for its historic downtown area located on a bend of the Minnesota River. The City of Chaska merged with Chaska Township in 2006. The city still has some remaining agricultural land.
Fairmont is a city in and the county seat of Martin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 10,487 at the 2020 census.
Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the university enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 800 graduate students. Augsburg is known for its emphasis on service learning; volunteering in the community is both an instructional strategy and a required part of a student's coursework.
Minnesota State University, Mankato is a public university in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. It is Minnesota's second-largest university and has over 145,000 living alumni worldwide. Founded in 1868, it is the second-oldest member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system and is commonly referred to as the flagship institution. It was established as the Second State Normal School in 1858 and officially opened as Mankato Normal School a decade later. Minnesota State University, Mankato is a significant contributor to the local and state economies, adding $827 million annually.
Chaska Senior High School (CHS) is a public high school located in Chaska, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. CHS is a 9–12 grade school that is attended by more than 1,500 students.
Eden Prairie High School (EPHS) is a four-year public high school in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States established in 1923. The present high school opened in 1981 and was significantly added to in 1990, 1994 and 1997. It was named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1996 by the United States Department of Education. Eden Prairie High School is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and the Minnesota Department of Education.
The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a 14,000-acre (5,666 ha) National Wildlife Refuge in eastern and central Minnesota. Located just south of the city of Minneapolis, it is one of fourteen Regional Priority Urban Wildlife Refuges in the nation. Many parts of the Refuge are near large establishments of the Twin Cities; the Bloomington Education and Visitor Center and two trailheads are located just blocks from the Mall of America, the Wilkie Unit is just east of Valleyfair and the Louisville Swamp Unit is just south of Minnesota Renaissance Festival.
The Minnesota True Team State Meet was created in 1987 by the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association to determine the top overall team based on depth rather than top finishers. In a traditional track and field meet, only the top eight or nine competitors per event score points. In the True Team meet, each team has two competitors per event for A and AA and three competitors for AAA as well as one relay team, with each competitor scoring. Since 2005, Minnesota now holds a True Team State swim meet.
Globe University and Minnesota School of Business (Globe/MSB) was a private for-profit education network based in Washington County, Minnesota, providing specialized training programs in business, accounting, medical, legal, information technology, massage, veterinary technology, and design fields. The large network had multiple campuses in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota.
The Minnesota Renaissance Festival is a Renaissance fair, an interactive outdoor event which focuses on recreating the look and feel of a fictional 16th Century "England-like" fantasy kingdom. It operates during seven consecutive weekends, from mid-August until the final week in September on a site near the Minnesota River in Shakopee, a suburb of the Twin Cities.
Shakopee is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Minnesota, United States. It is southwest of Minneapolis. Sited on the south bank bend of the Minnesota River, Shakopee and nearby suburbs comprise the southwest portion of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the nation's 16th-largest metropolitan area, with 3.7 million people. The population was 43,698 at the 2020 census.
Chanhassen High School (CNHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Chanhassen, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis. Construction of the school was approved by voters in 2006 in response to rapidly growing enrollment in Carver County and overcrowding at Chaska High School, the district's other high school.
In the United States, elementary schools are the main point of delivery of primary education, for children between the ages of 4–11 and coming between pre-kindergarten and secondary education.
Shakopee High School is a four-year public high school as of fall 2018 located in Shakopee, Minnesota, United States. The school district serves nearly 8,380 students in Shakopee, Savage, Prior Lake, and the Jackson, Louisville, and Sand Creek Townships. The district is located in one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the Twin Cities. The high school received a major expansion and was reopened after a summer of construction in the fall of 2018.
The SouthWest Metro Intermediate District #288 is a merged school district in Minnesota, United States. SouthWest Metro is the fourth Intermediate District in the State of Minnesota.
Alison Aune is a painter and Full Professor of Art Education at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her work is inspired by Scandinavian patterns and motifs. It draws on a feminist aesthetic, honoring traditional folk arts and domestic arts. Many of her patterns are based on research of Scandinavian textiles and symbols, such as the eight-pointed star. Artists such as Gustav Vigeland, Harriet Backer and Gerhard Munthe have had an important influence on her work.
The School of Education at American University is accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). The school offers undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees, as well as a post-masters graduate certificate in "Anti-Racist Administration and School Leadership." The school also runs a Center For Postsecondary Readiness and Success which "concentrates its research, professional development opportunities, and knowledge dissemination on improving the postsecondary opportunities for students who are historically disenfranchised and underrepresented on college campuses", and an Institute for Innovation in Education, which "conducts educational and translational research and administers research-informed professional development initiatives to improve teaching and learning in Washington, DC and beyond."
Minnesota Valley State Trail is a 27-mile, multi-use trail in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area that runs parallel to the Minnesota River from the cities of Belle Plaine to Shakopee. A 10-mile segment of the trail from Chaska to Shakopee is paved. Allowable trail uses include hiking, biking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling. First established in 1969, and never fully completed, the trail is undergoing a 13.5 mile extension in 2019 and 2020.
Social–emotional learning (SEL) is an educational method that aims to foster social and emotional skills within school curricula. SEL is also referred to as "socio-emotional learning," "social and emotional learning," or "social–emotional literacy." In common practice, SEL emphasizes social and emotional skills to the same degree as other subjects, such as math, science, and reading. Furthermore, SEL emphasizes an importance upon preparing students to become knowledgeable, responsible, and caring members of society when they reach adulthood.