Many students at school know at least one art teacher, but most do not know about how they grew up.

Sarah Koeneker
Koeneker grew up in O’Fallon, Mo. and went to high school at Fort Zumwalt North High School. For her undergraduate, she attended Saint Charles Community College as well as Fontbonne University. It was at Lindenwood University when she received her masters degree. Koeneker has always been passionate about art and believes it is important that students are able to express themselves. Her inspiration growing up was Suzanne Hume, her fourth grade art teacher, because of how creative and encouraging she was.

“I have always been passionate about art,” Koeneker said. “I think art is so important for students to express themselves and be creative.”

Nicole Mankus

Mankus always knew that she wanted to be an art teacher ever since she was young. She lived in North County, St. Louis and went to Pattonville High School. She attended Lindenwood University for both her undergraduate and masters. Her first job was working as a day camp counselor. She loved working with the kids as well as the arts and crafts. Her family played a very important role in her deciding to be an art teacher. Her grandma was a ceramicist and her dad was always very good at drawing. This allowed for her to explore a variety of different categories of art.

“I had a really great elementary art teacher, [Mrs. Hammerman], who made it super fun,” Mankus said. “It was either that or working to stop elephant poaching in Africa.”

Michael Oehmke

Oehmke grew up in South County and Jefferson County, Mo. He went to Northwest High School and went to college at William Jewell College, Kansas City Art Institute, and Lindenwood University. Oehmke always enjoyed art but never thought about teaching it, he originally wanted to pursue graphic design. However, he decided to teach art because he wanted to combine two things he enjoyed, art and school. His first job was teaching here at Fort Zumwalt West High School. The most interesting part of his past was his marriage as well as the journey of raising two daughters.

“It wasn’t a ‘who’ that inspired me, but rather a ‘what,’” Oehmke said. “I had an unstable life growing up, and I wanted to change that and have a positive, loving and stable life for my family.”

Julie Short
Main Street was a major part of Shorts’ life, and she later decided to become a part of the parades. She grew up in St. Charles and spent her entire childhood there until moving to Springfield to attend Missouri State College. Short realized that she wanted to be an art teacher when she was in middle school. She wanted to allow students to explore their creativity through art. Her favorite memories from her childhood was the travelling she did with her family. Short thought it was interesting to be able to witness different cultures and communities around the U.S.

“[My favorite memory from St. Charles is] growing up and being there for all of the events, like Main Street,” Short said. “Then when I got to high school, participating in the parades and activities was super cool.”

Jorge Valdez

Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, a tourist town not far from the beach, is where Valdez grew up. He went to a private elementary school called Vicente Guerrero. His high school was also attached to a college: the Instituto Tecnologico. It was during his time in college when Valdez realized that he wanted to pursue teaching. He wanted to be able to teach people about the art he was learning. Although he has countless stories of his youth, one of Valdez’s favorite memories was his trip to the beach with his family when he was young. He went early in the morning, and when he arrived, he saw countless shark fins on the beach.

“I went out to the beach, and all of a sudden I looked out from the ocean and there was probably 1,000 shark fins,” Valdez said. “The whole ocean, not close to the beach, but a little farther out.”