UW-Oshkosh graduating senior Krista Loest, right, enjoys a light moment in the car with her mom and her younger brother.
Resilient and persevering are words that describe University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh art education major Krista Loest.
Krista Loest, left, received a Chancellor’s Award for Excellence this spring while her mom, Kendra, enjoyed a proud moment.
The graduating senior who currently is student teaching at Carl Traeger Elementary School in Oshkosh, never imagined her college journey would be upended by a medical crisis. During her sophomore year, her mom was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia.
A commuting student from Fond du Lac, Loest helped care for her elementary-age brother and spent time at the Ronald McDonald House supporting her mom while maintaining a top GPA in her classes.
Challenging time
“It was really hard,” Loest said. “I was full-time in college and my dad drove over-the-road. My brother was in fourth grade at the time, and I had to take on almost a parental role and pick him up after school and help him with his homework.
“I was trying to be that person in the family to hold things together,” she recalled. “We ended up living with our grandparents. My mom had to live in the hospital a year and a half (receiving care and treatments including a bone marrow transplant).”
The good news, Loest said, is the transplant was a success and her mom is “doing great now.”
Her mom and dad, brother, older sister, grandparents and boyfriend will be at Commencement Saturday, cheering from the bleachers.
Krista Loest exhibits her art at a UWO gallery.
Looking beyond high school
A 2020 graduate of Winnebago Lutheran Academy in Fond du Lac, Loest knew she wanted to go to college. Undecided on her goals, she enrolled locally at UWO-Fond du Lac and connected with an art teacher she describes as “inspiring” and “who saw talent in me.”
Michael Wartgow, an art lecturer who served on that campus, encouraged her to pursue art.
“I always loved art as a hobby and I didn’t want to (ruin) that,” Loest recalled, adding she was told if you love it, it should never feel like work. Loest found that she really wanted to be an art teacher.
Now an elementary school student teacher, Loest needs to be ready to lead students in everything from paper mâché to various methods of drawing and painting to ceramics.
Her current 4th grade students at Carl Traeger Elementary School in Oshkosh are working with clay—making boxes and learning about the habitat they’ve chosen to decorate—rain forest, marine or arctic. She loves to see their excitement and energy.
Overcoming
Krista Loest, left, and a sibling offer support to their mom, Kendra, center, as she received treatment for leukemia.
Loest’s professors at UWO were aware of challenges in her personal life and were impressed at her ability to persist in her educational journey.
“Krista’s dedication to her studies is evidenced by the fact that even when her mom was in the hospital with leukemia and she was taking on extra duties with her siblings at home, she still kept up with the work in my class and completed compelling and well-crafted paintings,” said Trina May Smith, assistant professor of painting, in a nomination for Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, an honor Loest received earlier this year.
Smith noted that Loest, as an art education major, was not required to do a senior art exhibition, but proved she was able to take on the challenge. Her exhibit, A Scarlet Reminiscent, was so titled as a look back on the trauma of her mom being sick.
JaeHan Bae said he worked with Loest as her professor and as her supervisor during her clinical teaching experiences.
“Throughout this period, I witnessed her exceptional growth and unwavering commitment to art education,” he said, describing her as a genuine and dedicated teacher-candidate.
He said in her first course with him, she exceled while they covered a wide range of topics including the history of art education, differentiated instruction strategies, choice-based visual arts curricula, diverse assessment techniques and the development of teaching philosophy.
Bae said Loest would enrich classroom discussions with “depth and insight.” He recalled that she developed an art-centered unit plan for kindergarten students focused on exploring different cultures through the theme of flags. Students would learn about flag-making traditions, their authentic meanings and their contemporary uses.
“This innovative art unit was refreshing and expanded our perspective on teaching art in schools—encouraging students to apply their prior experiences and knowledge from other subjects to this art project,” he said.
Sharing her love of art
Loest said she’s open to moving where she finds a teaching job and she’ll be searching from Oshkosh to Milwaukee when postings for fall positions start appearing in a few months.
She said she loves the different abilities and attributes her students bring each day. Her current elementary students have high energy and enthusiasm and “keep me super busy” on her feet; the middle school students are a little more advanced and she thinks she understands them as her brother is currently in this grade level; and high school students bring more technical skills and conceptual thinking.
As Loest moves on from college, she knows she’ll miss her knowledgeable professors and the art community she found on the UWO campus. She appreciates their help and understanding, like the times associate professor Craig Clifford allowed her to work in the ceramics lab sometimes until 6 or 7 p.m. when she needed to adjust her schedule.
And Loest will recall great memories of being with fellow art students, having fun and enjoying each other’s company as they created art.
“What’s better than making cool mugs while laughing with your friends?”