Joy Mische has taught in several schools during her teaching career. But she says that Edgerton Public School has been her favorite. “I will miss the students and staff,” she said. “It has become part of me.”

Joy and her husband Jim live on an acreage outside of Pipestone. They have lived in the area for 17 years. Jim used to teach at Southwest Christian but is retired now. They both spent a lifetime teaching – in various small towns in North Dakota, where Joy is from, but also in Nigeria, where they both worked at a seminary school for a mission. Joy taught women’s classes there and homeschooled the couple’s four children. 

Before their four-year adventure in Nigeria, Joy taught elementary and junior high in McIntosh, S.D., Richardton, N.D, and Hebron, N.D. After Nigeria, she taught in Tioga, N.D. before they decided to move to a more populated area. “Tioga is in the middle of nowhere,” Joy explained. By this point in their life, most of their children were grown up and they wanted to live somewhere that the kids could fly to.  

While in Tioga, Joy started working on her master’s degree in special education from Minot State in North Dakota. When they moved to Pipestone, she was able to complete her degree. She started working as a substitute teacher for Edgerton Public School and at Pipestone Area Schools. She took a position as a one-on-one paraprofessional for six months at EPS. At that time, an opening came for high school students in special education, and she accepted the job.

Joy’s path to teaching is different than most. She wasn’t drawn to education so much for a love of learning as for what she thought a teacher should NOT be. “I had a third grade teacher that made someone cry, every day,” she said. “No kid should have to cry at school.”

“I teach like I would want my children taught,” Joy said. “This has worked for me, because  you care, but you are firm –because you care enough to be firm.”

Joy’s day-to-day teaching responsibilities at EPS vary. “Every day is different,” she said. “That’s what makes it fun and challenging.”