Many students enter Room 201 at La Crosse Central High School and leave forever changed, or at least thinking more and perhaps with a new perspective.

For 25 years, Mary Newgard-Larson has taught English, humanities, writing and advanced speech in that same room. She remembers where students have sat and their work.

"I have students who come back as juniors and seniors, and they say they missed the room," Newgard-Larson said.

Molly Grosskreutz, a 2009 Central graduate now attending Lawrence University, said many Central graduates have talked about how Newgard-Larson changed their lives.

"She was my go-to person for everything through high school, advising me on classes, and life," Grosskreutz said.

Newgard-Larson strives to engage students and keep them interested in what is happening in her classroom, Grosskreutz said.

"She absolutely loves what she does," said Grosskreutz, who chose to major in English largely due to Newgard-Larson. "She is the only teacher I know that physically hops when she has an idea."

Newgard-Larson, a 51-year-old Albert Lea, Minn., native, is one of the few certified master teachers in western Wisconsin.

She said she believes it is essential that every day a student discusses, writes, reads and listens in her class.

"Students need to be accountable to listen to their peers," she said. "They need to personalize literature and create their own interpretations."

Newgard-Larson said the best thing she can convey as a teacher is what she values in life.

She said she values community so she tries to create a community in her classroom. She keeps in mind the words of Albert Einstein as she prepares and teaches - "it is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."

She said joy is awakened by recognizing the value, talents and uniqueness of each person.

"Teaching is getting kids excited about learning, new cultures and other perspectives, getting kids to read books they don't read outside the classroom and to think about the writer's ideas," Newgard-Larson said.

"My goal is for students to be active listeners and thinkers," she said.

Visitors see a lot of art in her classroom because she said students can learn so much from art. She said she teaches various ways of expressing oneself and allowing for critical and creative expression.

Newgard-Larson loved journalism and writing as an undergraduate at Minnesota State University-Mankato where she received at mass communications degree, and then returned to the university to get her education degree.

"I thought by being a teacher I could make a difference," she said. "What I loved about journalism was finding people's stories, and as a teacher, I thought I could do that on a larger scale."

Newgard-Larson's entire teaching career has been at Central, where she met her husband of 20 years, Brent Larson, now a retired Central social studies teacher who now guides student teachers at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

"Mary is the best teacher I ever seen," Larson said. "Her greatest attribute his how she connects with students. She has a genuine caring attitude."

She is innovative, creative and reflective in how she presents material to her students, and she can instill passion and excitement for literature to her students, Larson said. Newgard-Larson spends many nights and weekends reading her students' writing and making detailed comments on their mechanics, he said.

Inside her classroom desk, Newgard-Larson keeps a favorite letter from a student she taught 20 years ago. The student said in the letter that she never really liked high school, partly because of the no-smoking policy.

"I don't know what keeps you coming back," she wrote to Newgard-Larson. "But I'm glad you were here."

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• NEWGARD-LARSON PROFILE