By Eli Meschko
Media & Communications Coordinator
When Stephanie Pritts (‘06) graduated from Briar Cliff, she felt ready to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. But she had no idea what kind of journey her career would take her on.
Ever since she was a kid, Pritts knew she wanted to be a teacher. When she was in elementary school, students could enter their names in a drawing to take home a teacher’s manual and the student workbooks that hadn't been fully used. She was always the very first one to enter these drawings and would take home the manuals to teach her stuffed animals in her bedroom.
Fast forward, Pritts had just received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Buena Vista University. She wanted to immediately pursue her master’s degree, knowing marriage and children would follow, so life would become busier.
As she was searching for a place to earn her master’s degree, she saw how many colleges were shifting toward online learning. But for her, she thrived off collaborating and working with others in person.
It turned out that Briar Cliff had a cohort during the summers, which fit well with Pritts’ teaching schedule. She could teach during the school year and then be on campus during the summers, working with others in person.
“I’m a big believer in learning in person, and it’s how I learned best,” Pritts said. “I appreciated that Briar Cliff gave that opportunity to me and also accommodated what I needed as a learner.”
Accommodating what her students need as learners is also a priority for her in the classroom. Pritts said the biggest part of this is being able to build strong and deep relationships. Teachers and students spend a lot of time with each other. So, being able to develop trust in these relationships allows her to understand what works for her students academically in the classroom.
Being an influential figure for her students at the Sheldon Community School District led to Pritts being named the 2026 Iowa Teacher of the Year.
When she found out she was named the teacher of the year, she was simultaneously shocked, surprised, and honored. At the beginning of her career over 20 years ago, she never thought she would be given such an honor. All she ever wanted to accomplish was to continually learn and grow in order to help her students learn and grow as well.
“There were nine of us [nominated], so it was a huge honor to know that I was the one that was picked in the end,” Pritts said. “Teaching is hard; it’s challenging and difficult. So, I love having this opportunity to be able to help support other schools and not only my own school district.”
With statewide recognition comes a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly. Pritts hopes to use the platform to highlight the realities of the profession. She believes the public only sees a fraction of what goes into teaching, not the challenges, unseen work, and deep commitment educators bring to the classroom every day.
A core message she hopes to share is the importance of empathy. After two decades in the classroom, she has learned that teaching and learning are deeply connected.
When teachers and students trust one another, the classroom becomes a space where growth truly happens. She also strongly believes that educators must extend that empathy to one another. She said teachers too often work in isolation despite the wealth of knowledge their colleagues hold.
She hopes to encourage a culture where educators can walk alongside each other, sharing insights, supporting struggles, and engaging in honest conversations—even when those conversations are difficult.
“I want people and families to trust teachers,” Pritts said. “We always have the students’ best interests in mind and are always looking at the best practices to help guide what we do with those students.”
Currently, she serves as an instructional coach, where she can help teachers find the best practices to serve their students.
In this role, she meets with students, interviews them, or studies their learning patterns. She’s constantly thinking about how new ideas might support individual needs. After trying an approach, she digs into the data to see whether it made a difference. If the results show growth—great! If not, she goes back to the drawing board with her colleagues, examining whether they need to adjust the intensity of the intervention, increase its frequency, or rethink their strategy altogether.
She’s learned how fun it is to support teachers at the student level. Being able to listen to students reveals an enormous amount about who they are as learners and what support will help them thrive.
“When the teacher gets to experience the success their student is having, they just eat it up and want more,” Pritts said. “It’s an awesome feeling to see the buy-in that will be used with other students.”
Looking back, Pritts can trace much of her career to the people who invested in her, professors who pushed her, classmates who learned alongside her, and students who ended up teaching her in their own ways.
Now, as she continues to step into the statewide spotlight, she carries those lessons with her. At Briar Cliff, she strengthened values of relationship building, empathy, and learning alongside others—values that still guide her work today.
“I’m so excited to meet new people and continue learning,” Pritts said. “I’ll get to collaborate with all the teachers of the year nationally. How cool is that? I’ll learn from them and be able to make an impact in Iowa.”