2002-Gretchen Maurer

“A Little Too Gretchen”

For generations, Star Wars has resonated with viewers because of its universal themes, especially the idea of a learner becoming a master. For 2002 graduate Gretchen (Maurer) Gosch, she’s gone from being a student-leader to now administering her own school. 

Back in the day, Gosch was asked by Jim Swanson to help create the fledgling Serteen program due to her leadership skill in and out of the classroom. When NHS Advisor Jason Fickett left midyear to join the FBI, Gosch also helped a rookie adviser (a much younger Mr. Willis) learn the ins and outs of National Honor Society. So it should come as no surprise that twenty years later, Gosch was tasked for the formation and administration of a new school. “Three years ago, I started a journey to get my master's, and I got my master's in administration. Just finished that this past August, and so I had an opportunity to be the administrator for our school this past year, but I felt like our school needed out of the box, not someone who'd been here for and so I did not take that position, and I still just kept teaching first grade. However, in November, I got a call from the District, and they asked me if I would help start a school, a Lutheran School in Perry, Iowa, as administrator on record. And so I took that job. So I'm teaching first grade still, and I'm also starting a school. We won't actually open until fall of 2026. I’ve really been involved a lot with the Iowa Department of Education and a whole bunch of different entities that I have to connect with, and I'm learning a lot.”

Her life as an educator was shaped by her time at Maple River. “Oh, I was a rule follower that enjoyed being goofy. I think I was voted class clown in the yearbook my senior year. I enjoyed being goofy. I was in basketball and volleyball. I didn't have much for a social life. Outside of that, I also worked as a waitress and nannied and babysat outside of school hours. So I kept myself busy, and I kept myself to a high standard in the classroom and outside of the classroom.” Although she was goofy at times, she still had the focus and organizational skills to be one of the top students in her class. “Still that rule follower, and I still like to get things done way ahead of time. I still like to–if I am given a task–I'd like to accomplish it, but to the best of my ability. There are sometimes (to a fault) where people are like, ‘just relax. It doesn't have to be that.’ And so actually, my staff just recently joked that some people are getting ‘a little too Gretchen.’”

To be an effective teacher or administrator, empathy is an important trait to develop. For Gosch, a tragic event during her time at Maple River left a lasting impact on her. “I think our junior year, we lost a classmate. It was during volleyball season, and through the process of that loss and mourning, we lost other classmates through different treatment and different things that they needed for health and recovery, and that has always stuck with me as a big change in our graduating class and in the emotional connections and of my classmates, that was that sticks with me as a huge memory.”

Gosch also experienced a personal tragedy that almost claimed her life but ultimately left her in a better place. In 2010, I was probably the prime single kind of living my life, working, and coaching volleyball for the public high school. It was in July, and I was on a home visit. I was going to visit one of my students that was going to be in my class the next year, and I was lost, so I pulled off the road and made a phone call on my cell phone, and she's like, ‘Oh yeah, you're in the right spot. You just went to the wrong side of the road.’ So I turned around, and I stopped at the stop sign, and then I pulled out in front of a semi, and I was T-boned. I broke my neck in four places, and I broke six ribs, and I have a huge chunk of time there that I don't remember at all.

But even from that, I have a lot of fuzzy, foggy kind of memories from before that, and especially into high school in my childhood years.  I think it just helped me and my husband decide that it's time to move from focus on work, focus on the grind and then move beyond that. Of course, there's always just the gratitude and the thanks to God for surrounding me with his angels. The wreckage of the vehicle–the semi at least  hit on the passenger side, and I was laying on the passenger window when the rescuers got to me. And if you see our vehicle,  right around where I was sitting, there's a steel cage, but everything else around me just crashed in. So that's the only part of the vehicle that would have survived is where I was sitting. So I got a helicopter ride from that.”

Today, Gosch continues to enjoy being a teacher while also appreciating the family she’s been given. “Being a Lutheran School teacher that's been a huge goal of mine. Having a family, husband, and kids was my number one goal, and my biggest pride and joy. I'm so humbled I get to be their mom. So I guess being able to share Jesus with the students that come into my classroom every day and realizing more and more each year how important that role is, and how blessed I am, is a goal that I think I had back when I was 18, but I don't think I fully realized it. What a privilege and honor it is to be able to teach kiddos and to connect with their families and the people that I work with. I guess, right now, my main goals, or the only goals that I can remember that are important, is having faith in Jesus and being able to share that with others.”

While juggling those two roles, Gosch will also be transitioning to her new role as an administrator. “Right now my biggest goal is to redefine my job as a teacher and the different hats I wear in our congregation. My kiddos are getting pretty involved in athletics and academics and things outside, and they have sacrificed a lot of their time to help me and volunteer time with me, and I would like to become the best mom I can be, and the best wife I can be. That's not a very ambitious goal, but it is a huge goal of mine. Also, I would love to see where God puts me in administration. I'm starting this new role as an administrator for a school in Perry. I think it is a stepping stone, but maybe eventually I will be an administrator for this current school.I'm just excited to see where the doors open up, because right now I'm just kind of letting God lead.”

For 17 years, Gosch has taught first grade at Zion Lutheran Church in Denison, Iowa prior to opening a new school in Perry, Iowa.