PHOTO COURTESY OF TAGE BOWERS

Rachel Kopriva has been the GMG art teacher for the high school and the elementary for three years.

She joined GMG in 2020 and has been enjoying her time with both the GMG elementary and the GMG secondary schools, especially with the decompressed time between traveling between buildings. There are days Kopriva has little motivation to travel, but she still always enjoys her time with both buildings.

When she is planning a lesson she often goes on social media such as Pinterest, Tik Tok with other art teachers, and YouTube. The one Kopriva gets the most inspiration from is called Brilliant Ideas, those platforms are also the ones where she stays up to date with art – her favorite being painting. Since Kopriva is so young, not much has changed with art since she started teaching.

Kopriva applied at GMG because the location was convenient to where she was living at the time. Also because she grew up in a small town and she loves the small community feeling that is present.

During the first years of going to GMG, Kopriva lived near another teacher. Kopriva said it was nice to bounce ideas off of each other while trying to build a curriculum. It was important to learn ways to better herself as a teacher.

Kopriva is moving out to live with her fiancé this summer. Kopriva grew up on a farm where she enjoyed raising animals such as pigs, cows, goats, sheep, and chickens as well as growing food in the garden.

Kopriva’s favorite school memory was when she was in college at UNI. She was riding her bike down a hill, lost control of the handlebars, and crashed. Kopriva’s roommate saw the cut, the roommate said we need to go to the E.R. Kopriva got a scar from the accident.

Shortly before starting her job at GMG, Kopriva faced her biggest challenge: she lost her mom.

Kopriva stated that her mother may not be with her in person, but she’s not forgotten.

Kopriva’s advice is that in the future, change can be nerve-racking, but don’t be scared of that uncomfortable zone because that is where you begin to grow as a person.

Kopriva is enjoying her time at GMG and she enjoys the kids and teaching art, Kopriva’s favorite days here are Fridays and when there is spaghetti.

The Sun Courier is proud to support the work of GMG-Garwin High School ‘s Journalism class by republishing articles and photographs from the latest edition. Staff writers, copy editors, photographers, and layout designers for The Scoop include Brenden Becker, Ava Campbell, Caiden Priske, Tage Bowers, Linsey Kohn, Noah Teske, Aidan White, Emma Brown, Savannah Pencil, Alive Soukhavong, Kayla Bush, Ashlynn Peters, Presley Watson. Editor for The Scoop is educator Angie Larson.