Connection.

That’s the best way to describe FACs teacher Mrs. Pedretti and her goal in the classroom. 

Throughout Mrs. Pedretti’s life, she has learned to love the unique connections that come from living and loving what life has to bring.

Mrs. Pedretti’s goal for connection started from a young age. She grew up moving around from new cities to states and even to a different country. 

“As a kid, I moved every year, and school was very hard to make connections with the teachers and connections with the other students,” Mrs. Pedretti said. 

With having moved around lots when Mrs. Pedretti was in school, she is able to tell when her students are having that type of disconnect with others.

“When I see kids that are new, which is very easy to tell, my goal is to learn about them and make that personal connection and get them connected with others at school,” Mrs. Pedretti said.  “It is a little extra mission I like doing because of moving around so much.”

Mrs. Pedretti’s love for teaching started when she was young. She has always known that she wanted to work with students, and she had one teacher who changed her view of how she would want to teach.

“I had one particular teacher who I appreciated for the way that they developed their curriculum,” Mrs. Pedretti said. “They made it so that it was really relevant for us, and I felt that if I could emulate it for myself, it would be really awesome.” 

This type of teaching style has been well received with her students.

“I think her attitude makes her teaching style so good, as well as her ability to stay involved with students and the classroom. She is able to keep such a good attitude throughout the entire class which I really like,” senior Abby Gardiner said. 

Most of all, students love Mrs. Pedretti’s upbeat attitude and energy that she puts into connecting with her class.

“I really like how she is always positive and how she always has a great attitude towards the class she is teaching,” senior Brielle Lyons said.

When Mrs. Pedretti first decided to go to college, she didn’t think she would be able to due to financial burdens and being the first generation to go to college in her family. When choosing a college, she felt a little intimidated due to the fact that she was from a small town, and most college towns were larger than her hometown of Ashland, Wisconsin. 

Mrs. Pedretti ended up going to college at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

“I fell in love with the quaintness of the campus,” Mrs. Pedretti said. “It just felt like home, and I knew the minute I was on campus that was where I was supposed to go.”  

However, that wasn’t her only stop for college. She also went to the University of Minnesota to complete her masters in teaching.

After teaching for four years at Richfield High School, Mrs. Pedretti decided to take a break from teaching after welcoming her first child. 

During this time, Mrs. Pedretti decided that she was going to sell wedding cakes as well as selling jewelry with Premier Design Jewelry company.

“I had the aha moment that I can make wedding cakes. It can’t be that hard, so I took a couple of cake decorating classes and went out on my own,” Mrs. Pedretti said. 

Years later when working at Prior Lake High School, Mrs. Pedretti found out that she had actually made the wedding cake for Mr. Kuboushek, a former assistant principal at the high school and now the principal of Twin Oaks Middle School. 

After 17 years of being a stay-at-home mom, Mrs. Pedretti decided to come back to teaching after a position opened up for a long-term sub at Prior Lake High School. She is really grateful for the amazing community she is now a part of. 

“For me, it is the community because I love connecting with the families and students,” Mrs. Pedretti said. “I love seeing everybody around town and saying hi and being able to know them by name as well as watch them grow into adulthood. It is the coolest thing ever.”