When Christina Nemmers entered the LHS Spanish department in 1982, she was the only Spanish teacher. Since then, many things have changed, and many teachers have come and gone, but Nemmers has always been loyal to the school. Well-respected by so many students over the years, Nemmers’ retirement at the end of this school year leaves the next Spanish teacher a very tough act to follow.

After graduating college with multiple majors, Nemmers thought teaching would be a good path to take. She taught for one year at a smaller school in Minnesota, using her multiple majors to teach different social studies courses, before arriving at LHS for more than 30 years of specializing in Spanish.

“I had a Spanish major and I just thought teaching would be a good thing for me to add to that,” said Nemmers. “I also knew I’d be able to student teach in Madrid, and I was excited about that idea. The very first year I taught some history classes because I also have a human services major and in Minnesota they allowed me to do that, but here at Lincoln I’ve always taught Spanish.”

One of the reasons Nemmers has been a great addition to the LHS staff is because all of the great opportunities she has given her Spanish students. From Spanish-speaking pen pals to bringing in students fluent in Spanish, she has gone out of her way to enhance the learning environment for students.

“One of the things that I’ve really enjoyed is connecting the Spanish-speaking students to my Spanish 3 classes,” said Nemmers. “In the past we have had a situation where we studied identities and what it means to be Latino and hispanoamericano. I brought in ELL students that were in the building and they came and sat down individually with Spanish 3 students and they got to talk to them about what it was like to come to another country and all the challenges. It was just a cool thing because the kids that are from the States could see how wonderful it was for them to have all the opportunities they had here, and then to see what challenges it is for someone who comes from another country and all the things they had adapt to.”

From 1982 to now, the Spanish department has grown and evolved. There have been many new additions, both in new teachers and more technology.

“Technology has gotten to be a big change, because I’ve been here for more than 30 years, so that’s been a really awesome opportunity to be able to use all the different things for teaching, also for assessing,” said Nemmers. “Also, I was the only Spanish teacher when I first came here, and so it’s really nice for me to have colleagues in the district and in my building to bounce ideas off of.”

After this school year, Nemmers plans to take a year off to spend time with friends and family, but in the future she plans to travel.

“I’m just going to take a year of rest and relaxation and just enjoy my grandkids,” said Nemmers. “There’s just a lot of opportunities out there but right now, in the next year, I don’t see me doing anything full time.”