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Student teachers at Park are finding places to train for future careers despite a statewide decrease in the demand for teachers, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

However, the number of student teachers at Park has stayed constant in recent years, according to Carol Johnson, the principal’s secretary.

One of Park’s current student teachers, Andrés Hernández, is a student at Saint Mary’s University. He works with Hanna Anderson in her Spanish classes.

Hernández is from Colombia and said that plays a big role in how he teaches.

“When you are teaching a language, you are not only teaching the language itself, you are teaching the background and culture,” he said. “Right now, I’m representing my country, so my purpose is to help students understand that there are different things out there.”

Freshman Kayla Furuli is in seventh hour Spanish, a class Hernández and Anderson teach together.

“Everything just goes by faster,” Furuli said. “We just recently had to record him for his college class, and he taught the whole class. It was fun.”

Kinsey Allen, a University of Minnesota student, is one of two student teachers in the science department.

She works with Patrick Hartman and Jessica Gust, teaching environmental science and biology.

Allen said she was surprised by the amount of work she has to do as a teacher but is learning to keep organized.

“It’s a lot more work than you’d think,” Allen said. “I know that my first year of teaching will be difficult, but the earlier you put in the work the better.”

Dan Ahlm, the other student teacher in the science department, is also at the University of Minnesota. He teaches honors/IB chemistry with Jenny Magdal.

Ahlm said his intent as a teacher is to help students think more broadly.

“I’ve been trying to incorporate (that) into classes, actual interaction, lots of time in the lab whenever possible,” Ahlm said.

Magdal said she hopes she is giving Ahlm information that will stick with him during the rest of his career.

“It is exciting to me to be able to pass on the things that I’ve learned over the last 10 years that will hopefully be meaningful to him and his teaching in many years to come,” Magdal said.