Photos by Brenda K Leavelle Teacher of Excellence award winner Rudy Carlson helping out Stone Ridge Christian School students Andrew and Logan Reardon.
Many Cook County residents were delighted to see a familiar face on the front page of the May 18 Duluth News Tribune. Under a headline of Reluctant student now teacher of excellence was Rudy “Cisco” Carlson, a 1976 graduate of Cook County High School. Carlson was featured because of he had been named as a Teacher of Excellence by the Seventh-day Adventist Alumni Awards Foundation. Only 12 of the 5,000 Seventhday Adventist teachers across North America receive this honor.
Carlson, who readily admits that he did not like school when he was a student, now serves as principal and teacher at the Stone Ridge Christian School in Duluth Heights. He teaches a class of nine students, ranging from grades one to eight, at the school, which operates on a four-day week, with Fridays off.
Carlson was nominated for the award by his supervisor, Pamela Consuegra, the superintendent of schools for the Minnesota Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, who told the Duluth newspaper that the creativity he puts into everything he does at the school is “phenomenal and extraordinary.”
Carlson said that teaching a classroom with such a range of ages is sometimes challenging, but he points out the small classroom size. “I only have nine kids, not 30. So it isn’t that hard to give each student individual attention.”
The parents at Stone Ridge are also very helpful, said Carlson. Each student has a learning contract which is shared with the parents along with a full schedule of lesson plans and tests. “Thekids can’t tell their parents they don’t have a test on Wednesday, because the parents know when tests are!” said Carlson with a grin.
What caused the change from reluctant student to accolade-winning instructor? On a recent visit to Grand Marais, Carlson said he didn’t start college with the idea of being a teacher. “I started as an art major. I had to do some TA in the art department. One day the teacher didn’t show up and they said, ‘Rudy, take charge.’ I was hooked. I changed my major from studio art to education with an art minor.”
After earning his teaching degree, Carlson taught for nine years in International Falls, then for 15 years in Hutchinson, MN. He began teaching at Stone Ridge Christian School in 2005.
Carlson lives with his wife, Mary Kay (Knowlton) on East Fourth Street in Duluth. They have three daughters, who have all left home, Melissa, 32, is a nurse; Andrea, 29, a professional artist with work currently on display at the Smithsonian and in Venice; and Karah, 27, a counselor.
Asked if there is anything he would like his former classmates to know, Carlson said, “Theycould read what I wrote in our yearbook. It was kind of prophetic.”
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