The Crookston Public Schools District has many new faces joining its staff for the 2021-2022 school year. KROX will introduce you to the new teachers and assistants throughout the week. Below is an introduction to all of the new teachers and assistants at Crookston High School.
MARCELO CAMPOVERDE
Marcelo Campoverde will be the new Spanish Instructor at Crookston High School. He is originally from Cuenca, Ecuador, and moved to Crookston in 1983 as an international student at the University of Minnesota Crookston and chose to stay in Crookston after meeting with the great community and moved to East Grand Forks.
Campoverde has been teaching at various places since 1991 and has been to about four different universities in the Red River Valley during that time, such as being the first girls’ soccer coach at the University of Minnesota Crookston, as a teacher in the Spanish and Education Department in the University of North Dakota, and at Thief River Falls High School before deciding to take the job at Crookston. “Crookston is a special place for me, personally as an individual and for my family. Honestly, I’ve had the opportunity to do many things, and I wasn’t looking to come back to Crookston per se, but the opportunity just presented itself. I visited with the leaders here, and I recognize some of the leaders that are in place right now,” said Campoverde. “I’ve dealt with them at a different capacity because I was coaching at a different high school, so I was familiar with them, and when I looked at the list of the leaders in place right now, I said, “I’m going to explore that.” I had a chance to meet with the principal and the superintendent, and I got excited, so they invited me to come in, and I’m excited about the opportunity.”
Campoverde is looking forward to the new year as he believes he’s met many of the grandparents or relatives of some of the students he will be teaching and thinks he can share some fun stories and experiences with them.
AUTUMN HANSON
Autumn Hanson is a new part-time teacher that will be one of the art instructors teaching 7th and 9th-grade art at Crookston High School. She’s a Crookston resident who has done various things in Grand Forks before returning to follow her passion for art and teach it to others. “I’ve been at South Middle School in Grand Forks for two years, then came here. A long time ago, I taught artists in the classroom and in the residence, so I have experience from a long time ago, too,” said Hanson.
Hanson is excited to meet the new students and to teach them to get into art. She also says that she hasn’t taught art to 9th graders for a long time and is excited to learn with them and who they are.
CAROLYN PAVLISH
Carolyn Pavlish is a new teacher to the district that will be the new Ag Instructor at Crookston High School, teaching 7th and 8th-grade students Intro to Ag I and II, Non-music Ag, Fish and Wildlife, Landscape Designs, and Food Creations. Pavlish grew up in Mahnomen and graduated from Mahnomen High School in 2019 and the University of Minnesota Crookston in 2022. Pavlish said that she had an amazing Ag Teacher that inspired her to follow in their footsteps to become an Ag Teacher. “When I went into student teaching, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a teacher, but I had an amazing cooperating teacher in Menahga,” said Pavlish. “About a month in, I for sure wanted to be a teacher and started applying for teaching jobs, and ultimately I chose Crookston because I comfortable with the community, I liked it here, and had done some observations with the previous Ag Teacher.”
Pavlish is excited to be a part of the new Ag program, which is now entering its third year, and is excited to introduce kids to the diversity of agriculture and to help build up the FFA program alongside it.
JESSICA HOLZER
Jessica Holzer is from Fertile and is a new part-time Administrative Assistant in the High School’s Counseling Office. She graduated from Fertile-Beltrami in 2010 and moved to Crookston in 2017, where she worked at RiverView Health for three years. Holzer began work in the Crookston School District Office in 2021 but chose to move into the Counseling Office when the position opened last month. “The position had opened, and they had a need for me here rather than in the District Office. By the time I was hired in the District Office, they were trying to play a lot of catch-up from COVID and everything, so that’s where their needs were for me over there, but then this opened up, and they shifted me, and it’s been working out pretty great.”
While she’s only been in the position for a month, Holzer has voiced her excitement for the job as she will always be doing something different each day. Some of her tasks include helping students with scholarships, helping fellow counselor Tara Klein on projects she has for the students, and getting to know the teachers and students better than when she was working in the District Office.
ERIN MARSYLA
Erin Marsyla will be the Junior High Interventionist at Crookston High School to help 7th and 8th-graders struggling with math and reading in the school library. Marsyla was originally from Buffalo, Minnesota, and moved to Crookston seven years ago, where she worked at Highland Elementary School for five years before deciding to come to the High School. “I had moved here for a position at Highland a few years ago, so I started there five years ago and wanted a change. I had been in Middle School and wanted a change to third-grade students and realized that I needed Middle School. So, I left for a while, but now I’m back,” Marsyla explained.
Marsyla says that the move, though, is a blessing in disguise, buts she’s excited to be meeting up with many of the third graders that she had worked with back when she was in Highland that are now freshmen and sophomores this year and is excited for all of the growth she’ll make with the 7th and 8th-grade students.
KARI MOE
Kari Moe is another new Administrative Assistant at Crookston High School that came from RiverView Health. “I went to UMC for Healthcare Management and worked at RiverView in town for 16 years. Now I needed a change, so here I am at the High School in the office,” said Moe. This will be her first time working in a school district outside of when she’s volunteered for some events at her children’s school district. She will work closely with Assistant High School Principal Greg Garmen and Activities Director Nate Lubarski.
Stay tuned to KROX and KROXAM.com for more of the new teachers.
