BAXTER — Clad in a Hawaiian shirt, getting ready to teach his fifth graders to play marbles as a lesson in force and motion, Tom Andresen was not prepared for the news he received on Friday, March 7.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed and excited,” he said upon learning he’d been named the 2025 Brainerd Teacher of the Year. “It’s really a pleasure to spend time with kids and be honored by our peers and colleagues.”
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A fifth grade science teacher at Forestview Middle School, Andresen has taught at Brainerd Public Schools for 33 years.
“He could have won this award every single year,” fellow teacher Eric Jobe said Friday when presenting Andresen with his award.
Jobe and Andresen have known each other for years, having coached junior high football together.
“He’s just the greatest person for kids, especially kids who have a little bit too much energy,” Jobe said. “... He has a real joy for teaching.”
After attending Nisswa Elementary School, Franklin Junior High and Washington High School, Andresen started out his teaching career with special needs students before taking on fourth grade at Garfield and then science at Forestview.
His nomination for Teacher of the Year came from Taschia Jacobsma, whose son is in Andresen’s class.
They’re learning by doing. You walk into his classroom, and it’s a buzz of activity.
“My son has expressed that (Andresen) is his favorite teacher this year,” Jacobsma wrote in her nomination. “He likes his class and likes how he teaches his class. He is a very patient, fun and passionate teacher. They like to share stories and have a good rapport with each other!”
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Forestview Principal Jon Anderson said he could have talked for hours about the attributes that make Andresen worthy of the Teacher of the Year award.
“Here’s what you need to know about him, as a teacher and as a person. From the moment that kids show up until they’re gone, he is talking and connecting,” Anderson said. “... And he knows personal things about every single kid that he has in his class. They know things about him, and those relationships that he builds is what makes him awesome.”
The other thing about Andresen, according to Anderson, is that he doesn’t just teach in his classroom.
“He creates a bunch of scientists,” Anderson said. “They’re learning by doing. You walk into his classroom, and it’s a buzz of activity.”
Watching his students learn is what keeps Andresen going in his career year after year, decade after decade.
“I just told somebody today, I like to do mind puzzles and spend time chatting with the kids outside of the class — and in — and just have fun teaching them about life,” he said. “... I want them to love school and want to come back to school every day and learn something and have fun and want to be a part of it.”
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Kids certainly had fun at Forestview during Observation Week, which ended Friday and explained Andresen’s Hawaiian shirt and turtle shell necklace. It was a week where teachers dressed up in beach wear, wore mismatched shoes and drank from unique cups, all in an effort to see if the students noticed. In true science teacher fashion, Andresen spent one day drinking out of a beaker.
Earning the Teacher of the Year award is a good feeling, he said, knowing he’s done the right thing for kids and his community for so many years.
Outside the classroom, he’s not only coached football but was also involved in the Warrior strength program for years.
“You come into the strength room to get stronger. It doesn’t matter how big and strong and fast you are, we can make you bigger and stronger and faster,” he said. “And there’s a correlation to that in life because it doesn’t matter how school goes. You come in, we can make you better and more prepared for life and school. If you work hard and have fun, you can do great things.”
It’s just like the famous Dr. Seuss book, he said — “Oh the Places You’ll Go.”
THERESA BOURKE may be reached at [email protected] or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa .
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