Mrs. Engelbart joins the Prairie staff this year as a business teacher. She hopes to completely revamp the business department and offer students a swath of opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. This is her second year teaching, her first being at Skyview in 2020.
Her introduction to Prairie has been a smooth and hospitable experience. “The culture here is much more welcoming and inclusive,” Engelbart said. She finds Prairie intriguing compared to most schools. Her favorite part about Prairie is how “the culture is a combination of personalities, styles, and how it meshes and it supports itself well.”
Mrs. E left her lofty banking job to become a teacher in hopes of improving financial literacy in students. “I saw that financial literacy was imperative with every student… It’s incredibly necessary and there’s a huge deficit in that skill base for many adults.” As a regional manager for a set of local Chase banks, she found herself appalled by the lack of financial literacy; thus, prompting her to take up a job in teaching as more of a passion project.
With a big gap left within the business department, she plans to kick off new opportunities for students to succeed. For example, Ms. Berg, the marketing teacher, plans to partner with IQ Credit Union to both assist and allow students more pathways for vocational learning and graduation. There is also talk about a new student store! The store would be supported by the two teachers in order to sponsor entrepreneurship within the school.
Students have already encountered the benefits of her teaching, and students within her personal finance classes have exclaimed about their accomplishments. Some students have opened savings accounts, purchased their first credit card, or in general are seeing the world of money differently. Seeing students succeed is her main concern; “I couldn’t see myself leaving any time soon.”
