POY nominee: Jessica Troftgruben

Connecting kids to community

*/

 
Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
 
Mom, wife, coach, teacher and Newc High News editor — Jessica Troftgruben is a 2018 Person of the Year nominee. Although she said she doesn’t see herself a someone involved in the community, she has been involved in the lives of many Newcastle students for a number of years.
Troftgruben started teaching English at Newcastle Middle School, but later transferred to the high school. Since then she has started the school newspaper, Newc High News, which Troftgruben said is the most real-world, hands-on English project a student can have, and it was something that she had grown up with.
Troftgruben said she wanted to start a paper in the middle school while she was still teaching there, but was always too busy with classes and couldn’t find the time. When she moved to the high school, she worked things out with Principal Tracy Ragland and school counselor Mike Gregory to make the paper part of a class. Reporter Kolby Pisciotti said Troftgruben fought for getting a school newspaper, and still continues to fight for it.
The work to launch the paper began in the summer. Troftgruben sought business sponsors, and students practiced their writing skills. She spoke to the now-current seniors in spring, and told them to recruit any sophomores who might be interested in writing for the paper as juniors. Troftgruben said she wanted diversity among the reporters, such as kids who are involved with sports, various clubs, agriculture, etc. 
 “I felt like we had a student voice missing within the school,” said Troftgruben. 
Troftgruben said the stories in the first few editions of Newc High News have focused on issues that piqued the interest of the community, but the NHN crew is planning to bring a “new face” to the new year by bringing the focus back on the school. 
Another hands-on school project that Troftgruben led involved stories about local veterans. She had her students interview veterans and write essays about them. The idea stemmed from Students for Vets, a program Ragland brought to the school so that students could help veterans with odd jobs, such as shoveling snow or mowing lawns. According to Troftgruben, veterans have a hard time sharing their stories, but the project helped them to open up and talk about their war experiences. 
Not only did the project help the veterans, it also benefited the students, Troftgruben said. It added meaning to a school project and allowed students to meet the people who fought for the rights and freedoms they enjoy today. She said a lot of kids don’t know or understand what veterans go through, so the project took the focus off the students.
Troftgruben said it’s important to give back to the community and take learning out into it. She said it’s easy to sit inside the walls of the school, and not realize how important it is to get involved with the community. Troftgruben said students have said that the veterans project was their “most meaningful project.” 
Other students have also acknowledged Troftgruben’s impact at the school. 
 “She is one of the most dedicated teachers at this school,” Pisciotti said. “She loves life and her job.” 
Pisciotti had Troftgruben as a teacher in both middle school and high school, and said she’s pushed him to do things he didn’t want to do or think possible.
 “She encourages me on things that I don’t think I can do,” he said. 
As an example, Pisciotti recalled the time they looked for Poet’s Corner by Sylvan Lake, and even though they didn’t find it, they hiked halfway up Harney Peak without realizing it — a feat Pisciotti said he didn’t believe he could do. 
Pisciotti also said Troftgruben has helped him look at his senior year in a positive way, and noted she finds the best in any situation. 
According to reporter Sara Sweet, Troftgruben personally gets involved with the lives of her students because she is close to them and knows how to help.
“She always gives me the best life advice,” Sweet said. She also said Troftgruben has encouraged and helped her to be a better writer, student and leader. 
The hard part about her job and involvement with students is that it’s sometimes difficult to find time to hang out with her own kids, Troftgruben said. But, she said, she uses the weekends and summers to spend time with family. 
 “Life is just such a balance. I call it a tightrope,” Troftgruben said. 
According to Troftgruben, she has to keep her priorities in perspective, meaning that family is first, followed by education, then her job. Even though she is no longer a student, she still values education because she said she believes it’s important for people to be “lifelong learners.”
As a parent, Troftgruben said, one particularly memorable time was when her oldest son, Tristan, who was into the “Hunger Games” at the time, gave her a flame-orange rose and told her that “she was the girl on fire,” a line from the “Hunger Games.”
Troftgruben’s students have felt her impact through the time and dedication she’s given them. 
 “I think she’s had a large impact on everybody,” Sweet said.