When Carrie Coyer got the news she had been hired as a kindergarten teacher at Prairie View Elementary, she was in her childhood bedroom. Her mother and father still owned the same house in Eden Prairie they had when she was in elementary school, just a six-minute walk from her new teaching role. She ran to tell her parents, and it wasn’t long before they were all crying. “It was a dream coming to Prairie View,” Coyer said. “It is so meaningful.”

Prairie View is a special place for Coyer. When she received that fateful call, she had only visited a few times since 2013, when she walked the halls as a quiet sixth grader. That was the culmination of her seven years as a Prairie View student, beginning with kindergarten — and now, she would be going back to teach the same class where it all began. And her new coworkers? They included two of her former teachers: Beth Pederson and Vic Pengilly.

This time last year, Pederson and Pengilly had no idea a Prairie View alum would be teaching alongside them. Pengilly recognized but couldn’t place Coyer’s name on the list of new staff, and it took some looking through scrapbooks before it clicked. Pederson, for her part, first bumped into her former student at a new staff training where the longtime teacher was serving as a mentor. Coyer couldn’t find the Prairie View group, but when she recognized Pederson, she knew she’d found her people. “‘I knew we hired a Prairie View alum!’” Coyer remembers Pederson exclaiming when they reconnected. 

On a spring afternoon after school, the three sat together in Coyer’s classroom. They laughed and reminisced about her time as a Prairie View student and what it meant for her to be back as a teacher. Together they hold more than 50 years of teaching experience: Pengilly has been teaching for 29, Pederson for 24, and Coyer for one. And though Coyer’s new to the job, she’s a veteran of the school. “Being brought up in the Prairie View community, she was able to excel right from the beginning,” said Pengilly.

Sitting in class with Pengilly (for fourth grade) and Pederson (for sixth grade, before it moved to Central Middle School), Coyer didn’t have any idea she would eventually work in education. Her teachers didn’t expect it either. She was a hardworking, quiet student — and she never gave any impression that one day she’d be back teaching alongside her former educators. Instead, one of Pengilly’s most lasting memories of Coyer was when he tried a new assignment for the first time: asking his class to do research on states and then dress up as their states at the end of the project. “I think I was dressed up like a cowgirl,” Coyer chimed in with a laugh. Nothing back then suggested ‘teacher.’

That changed, though. By the time she graduated from Eden Prairie High School, Coyer had become interested in education and decided to pursue teaching as a career. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota and began student teaching at Oak Point Elementary. When a position opened at Prairie View, Coyer applied right away. She wanted to give back to the community that meant so much to her growing up. Her siblings had also grown up at Prairie View, and it was there she met Anthony Jirele (‘19), who would become her fiancé — so much connected her to the school. That drive to contribute to her community was powerful, and something that Pederson and Pengilly found remarkable about her return to Prairie View.

“It’s a community, and it feels good to us that students want to come back,” Pederson said. Now, when Coyer sees Pederson and Pengilly in the halls, it’s a reminder of that bond. “When I see them,” Coyer said, “I feel like I’m home.”

Today, the three teachers seek each other out at trainings and enjoy whatever time they have together to share their deep connection to Prairie View. “Our culture is pretty close,” Pengilly said, “whether we’re in the same hallway or not. We’re a pretty tight group.” And Coyer fits right in.

Since Prairie View feels like home for Coyer, she also wants it to feel like home for her students. It’s something she learned from Pederson and Pengilly many years ago: “I say, ‘I’m glad you’re here,’ to every single student that walks in,” Coyer said. “I want to make them feel welcome, just like I did in Beth and Vic’s classes.” 

That determination to give students a sense of belonging extends to the entire Prairie View team, who describe a culture of connection among staff. No teacher works in isolation, and collaboration is hugely important. Pengilly says much of that comes from sharing thoughts and concerns openly, supporting one another and finding solutions to challenges together. Coyer regularly experiences that support: When Pengilly sees his former student leading her class through the halls, he points out her orderly Eagles to his own class as an example. It’s moments like these that stand out to Coyer and make her grateful every day to inspire students at Prairie View.

“That culture has gone into the kids,” Coyer explained. She knows her students watch staff talking to each other and modeling positive communication, and they know staff are all working together to make the school experience better. “When days were tough at home, I loved going to school. To come back and be on the other end… I feel like that is such a unique opportunity,” she expressed. 

Coyer feels lucky to teach alongside two of the people so crucial to her own development. Next year, she’ll be teaching first grade (including to some of her previous kindergartners) and it’ll be a different world. And when she encounters challenges? “I think Vic is definitely someone I would go to,” she said, reflecting on all the years of experience he’s had. In his nearly 30 years of teaching, Pengilly has taught every grade at Prairie View, and Coyer knows how much that will help her in handling the move to a new grade level. Pederson, too, she says, will be a good resource. 

“I do truly feel like they’ve got my back,” Coyer affirmed. She has their backs, too, and together they lift up the next generation of leaders — some of whom may also one day return on the other side of the desk.