“I am Julie Bliss, a product of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Des Moines, and have been teaching 5th Grade in the Diocese for 36 years. After graduation from Dowling Catholic High School and Iowa State University, my first teaching position led me to seven years at Holy Family Catholic School in Des Moines.
I have fond memories of Living History Farms personally and professionally. My mom took us there when we were young and when St. Pope John Paul II visited Iowa and the Farm, as a sophomore at Dowling Catholic, we walked there from our home to celebrate Mass with Him. It was a beautifully touching experience that I will never forget!
Professionally LHF has always been an important part of our Social Studies curriculum and have been attending educational programming with students for 36 years! We began participating in the One Room School program and after moving from Holy Family for St. Pius X Catholic School in Urbandale. My new partner teacher and I continued to take 5th Graders to the One Room School and eventually sought out new programs to explore at LHF that would be more engaging and increase student participation such as the 1850s and 1900’s Farms and the Apprenticeship Programs in town. We have had positive interactions working with the historians each and every year.
This real time engagement at the farms and in town has given my many students memorable experiences at the Newspaper, Blacksmith, Broom Maker, Millinery Shop, and two different farms while actively living the history of Iowa by reinforcing what we were learning in the classroom. I am proud to have given my many students at St. Pius X this opportunity for the last 29 years!!!
One thing that always is interesting to me was those kids that had experience on farms because of grandparents, etc, and those that had no experience on a farm. This created an even more memorable day for students at the Farm.
To this day, former students tell me Living History Farms was one of their favorite field trips as a student at Holy Family and St. Pius X!”
Teachers of the Year are recognized at Living History Farms’ annual Farmstasia event and receive:
Nominations can come from the teacher, the teacher’s principal, superintendent, peers, or a parent of one of the teacher’s students.
2010: Veralynn Schilling, second grade, Abbie Sawyer Elementary School, Ames
2011: Betty Peterson, third grade, Baxter Elementary School, Baxter
2012: Jackie Scieszinski, seventh grade, Indian Hills Junior High, West Des Moines
2013: Kris Bigler, fifth grade, North Winneshiek Schools, Decorah
2014: Jeanine Lynch, second grade, Lawson Elementary School, Johnston
2015: Lynda Niffenegger, fifth grade, Crossroads Park Elementary School, West Des Moines
2016: Jenny Sinclair, fourth grade, Lakewood Elementary, Norwalk
2017: Sr. Donna Demmer, fifth grade, Resurrection Catholic School, Dubuque
2018: Darice Pamperin, third grade, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School, West Des Moines
2019: Debbie Wiley, third grade, Eason Elementary, Waukee