Dornburg honored as Educator of the Year

by Dennis Dalman

editor@thenewsleaders.com

Those who have worked with her and learned from her were not surprised when they heard the news Lori Dornburg has been honored as the Middle School Educator of the Year for 2016-17.

Her friends and colleagues were not surprised, but they were happy such a deserving professional was so honored.

Now in her 23rd year as a Sartell Middle School instructor, Dornburg teaches family-and-consumer science to seventh- and eighth-graders at Sartell Middle School. She is also the academics-extension coordinator for the school.

Dornburg received her award during a banquet in Minneapolis hosted by the organization known as the Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest.

“Lori is a wonderful example of how one person can make a huge difference in the lives of young people,” said Liz Guimont, senior director of education and programs for Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest. “She incorporates Junior Achievement into her middle-school curriculum so her students learn important personal finance and economic concepts before heading off to school and getting their first jobs. She goes above and beyond in preparing her students for success in the real world.”

A recent survey conducted by Junior Achievement USA found 95 percent of Junior Achievement teachers report students who participate in Junior Achievement have a better understanding of how the world operates.

Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest has been serving students in Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin since 1949. This school year, it will serve about 163,000 students in grades K-12 through programs that include financial literacy, readiness for college and careers, and entrepreneurship education. More than 10,000 volunteers – mostly business professionals – share their skills and experience to motivate and inspire students for successful lives.

Dornburg teaches what used to be dubbed, decades ago, Home Ec (home economics), a course once offered only to girls. That program, throughout the years, was expanded to include so much more than cooking and sewing. To be sure, Dornburg teaches all kinds of life skills, including laundry, cooking and nutrition, but the curriculum now includes skills like financial management. Dornburg also weaves community-service projects into her curriculum.

“I’m a very strong believer in community service,” Dornburg said in an interview with the Sartell-St. Stephen Newsleader. “I believe in giving back, and I try to stress that in my teaching. If students learn that now, it will last them through(out) their lives.”

Although “life skills” might sound like a cheerless, ponderous subject, it isn’t in Dornburg’s classes. She has a real knack for making life skills fun and interesting.

“Life skills might as well be fun if you’re going to have to do them all of your life,” she said. “We have six kitchens, and I love to have the kids let loose in them as they create.”

As academics-extension coordinator, she introduces students to extracurricular pursuits such as Knowledge Bowl, Geography Bee, Spelling Bee, the Stock Market Game and chess, to name just some. She has nurtured students to great success in those programs, all the while encouraging the students’ poise and confidence.

Born in La Crosse, Wis., Dornburg lived in many states because her father worked for 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) for decades and was transferred to a new place about every three years.

“I loved moving around,” she said. “I had friends, still have friends, in so many places in the United States.”

Dornburg earned a degree in vocational home-economics education at the College of Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, Texas – a city where her father was working at the time.

Before her job in Sartell, Dornburg taught in a variety of places. All told, she has 34 years of teaching experience, including her Sartell years. She taught in San Antonio, Texas; Buffalo, N.Y. and Bemidji (Minn.) Middle School. She was also a county extension agent for five years when she lived in Houston, Tex.

The neighborhood hardest-hit by Hurricane Harvey in Houston was the very neighborhood she’d lived in, she noted.

Dornburg moved to Cold Spring to marry her husband, Randy, who was working in Rockville at that time. Randy has his own business, Randy Dornburg Custom Woodworking. The Dornburgs have two daughters – Lindsey, an education paraprofessional in Albany; and Sarah, who is studying natural-resources technology at Vermilion College in Ely.

Dornburg’s hobbies include quilting and traveling.

“I love my job,” she said. “Obviously, or I wouldn’t have done it for 34 years. But I also love my summers.”