By Jill Fennema –

Jennifer Atsma has lived in the area for the past two years, but she just started teaching at Edgerton Public School. Jennifer is teaching English to 8th and 9th graders as well as senior speech and composition. 

This is her first full time teaching position, but she is not new to the classroom. For the past six years she has been working as a substitute teacher, having worked at schools in Forest Grove, Oregon, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. She graduated from Dordt University in 2003. 

She started working as an emergency substitute teacher shortly after she got married. “I discovered I just loved being a teacher,” she said. “So I got my certificate.”  

Her favorite part of being a teacher? “Unquestionably, the personalities of the kids,” she said. She is learning to tackle all the tough parts of teaching that you don’t encounter when you’re a substitute – planning, paperwork, and testing. 

Jennifer has lived all over the country – California, Washington, Iowa, upstate New York, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, and now Minnesota.

“I like to travel, but in small doses,” she said. This summer, she checked Yellowstone National Park off of her list of places to see.  

Since October 2019, her husband Seth has been the pastor at the Chandler Reformed Church. Their daughter Annika is an 8th grader at Southwest MN Christian Schools.

When she is not busy with teaching and her family life, Jennifer enjoys writing, gardening, camping, and experimenting with household projects.  She used to blog, but now spends time writing fanfiction, playing role-playing games, and helps her husband by editing his sermons.