When Brianna Baker (CHS 2017) was heading off to South Dakota State to start her freshman year, the vehicle she and her older sister were driving to Brookings, her dad’s pickup truck, got a flat tire along the way.
The two didn’t know how to unhitch the spare. Too far from home to call their dad for help, they had to phone road service.
“We waited forever, but the guy did it so quickly, and we watched and were like ‘we could have done that.’”
Flash forward five years. Baker was hired at CHS this fall as a long-term Industrial Technology substitute. In brainstorming what she wanted students to gain, learning how to purchase and maintain a vehicle was at the top of her list.
“When coming into this position and seeing the curriculum, I instantly thought this needs to be more hands on. You can only read so much and watch so many videos. You learn a lot more by doing. Cleveland has a beautiful new shop, and I want the students to use it. I wanted to make sure these kids have confidence to do tasks like changing a tire.”
So Baker phoned another Cleveland alum, Grant Sargent (CHS 2013), a sales consultant at Snell Motors in Mankato, and told him about her goals.
“First, I asked him if we could do a field trip to Snell Motors to learn about sales, finances and what kind of body shop they run. While talking to him, I mentioned that I wish we had a vehicle at Cleveland to go back and work on. In the conversation Grant said he was going to do some checking and let me know.”
Sargent put the wheels in motion.
Two days later, after speaking to the Snell management team, he told Baker that Snell wanted to donate a vehicle to CHS, and they would love to work with the students. The dealership delivered the vehicle, a 2012 Kia Sorento, to the shop today (Thursday). The students in Baker’s two automotive classes will use it to learn basic maintenance.
“It’s a generous donation and a great way to start out homecoming day,” said assistant principal Dave Cink, who spoke at the presentation. “Getting those hands-on experiences are really important.”
“We never had that opportunity when I was here 12 years ago,” Sargent told the automotive students. “We struggle to get mechanics and body shop technicians. We want to get you learning when you are young so perhaps you can work for us when you graduate.”
Baker’s journey
At SDSU, Baker earned an undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Studies with a minor in Health Communications. After graduating in May 2021, she moved back to her hometown area.
She knew she wanted to work with children, so she went to Minnesota State University, Mankato to take some more classes. As she was earning a certificate in Communication Disorders at MSU,M, she was working at Bridges Community School in North Mankato as the student success coach, and that influenced her to decide to go into teaching.
“At my time at Bridges I realized that I really enjoyed teaching an elementary class. I just got accepted into the Elementary Teaching master’s program at Minnesota State University, Mankato.”
Cleveland principal Scott Lusk knew that Baker was pursuing a teaching career, so when the school had a sudden need for an Industrial Studies teacher, he contacted her.
“That is the beauty of this small community,” Baker said. “My former high principal knew that his former student was going into the education field. Mr. Lusk called me the Friday before school started to see if I would be interested in being the industrial teacher.”
So Baker landed right back where she started from.
This fall, Baker is teaching two automotive classes for students in grades nine through 12th. She also has a “Tech Nine” class: Woods and Welding. She works with fifth and sixth graders once a week and has a Flight & Space class for eight graders, a comprehensive, hands-on, real-world learning course.
While she wishes there were some female students in the automotive courses, she knows that the Snell donation will enhance her students' skills.
Above: Grant Sargent, Evan Koppelman and Brianna Baker pose in front of the car donation. Koppelman (CHS 2018) oversees accounts payable at Snell.
Automotive students, from L-R: Koby Kopischke, Carter Reintjes, David Draheim, Erick Torres, Ian Vlasak, Caleb Possin, Alex Johnson, Garet Peterson, Cayden Schmidt, Austin Pierce-Lee, Corbin Thompson, Anthony Torres, Chase Bock, Tanner White, Max Esser, Dylan Ely, Dominic Anderson and Gavin Dent.