Teaching Online Doesn't Mean a Lack of Face Time

Apple Valley’s Jamie Gehrman, an elementary teacher at the K-12 online public school MTS Minnesota Connections Academy, recently took her family to Peter Pan the Musical at Children’s Theatre Company. Not only did she know her daughter’s would love the show, she also wanted to support one of her own students, 10 year-old Gavin Nienaber, who plays Michael Darling in the performance and is a fourth grader at Connections Academy. “It was a thrill to watch him,” said Gehrman.

Though this was Nienaber’s first show with the Children’s Theatre, he is not new to the theater scene. Since the age of six, Nienaber has hit the stage in nine productions, most recently as an essential in A Christmas Carol (Guthrie Theater), as Young Shrek/Dwarf in Shrek the Musical (Eagan Summer Community Theatre), and as Young Tarzan in Disney’s Tarzan the Musical (Children’s Castle Theater). Needing a flexible school schedule to accommodate his acting career, Nienaber enrolled in Minnesota Connections Academy during the 2014-15 school year. “We’ve already enrolled for next year,” said Gavin’s dad, David, a former math teacher. “The flexibility and quality of the curriculum has been great,” he said. “Gavin can even study between shows at the theater. We’re 100 percent in.”

Students across the state attend MTS Minnesota Connections Academy which is designed to meet the needs of students and their families who are looking for a unique public school option—including those who need a flexible schedule, learn at a different pace from their peers, need more individualized attention, have health concerns or live in isolated rural settings.

Throughout each month, students have the opportunity to attend field trips and community activities which provide students with the opportunity to support their daily courses and socialize with faculty, other students and their families. Information sessions are ongoing. For a complete event schedule, visit www.ConnectionsAcademy.com/MTSMCAevents.

Pictured: Apple Valley‘s Jamie Gehrman grabs a shot with one of the stars of Peter Pan the Musical, Gavin Nienaber, who is also one of Gehrman’s students at MTS Minnesota Connections Academy. Nienaber also wrote a note to his teacher’s daughters.