Coming Full Circle: Burnsville graduate Jennifer Le Vvintre finds her path back to the classroom

When Jennifer Le Vvintre walks through the halls of Burnsville High School these days, she sometimes catches a familiar smile — from teachers who once stood at the front of her own classes not that long ago.

“It was a little weird at first,” she said with a laugh. “Some of the AVID teachers I work with now were my teachers when I was a student. But it’s also made it easier to relate to my students because I can help them see how to build relationships with their teachers, because I’ve been right where they are.”

Le Vvintre, a 2019 Burnsville High School graduate, is on her way to becoming a teacher through District 191’s Grow Your Own (GYO) program. After earning her high school diploma, she enrolled at Augsburg University to study special education, but like so many college students during the pandemic, she hit pause to rethink her path.

“I had always been pretty interested in teaching,” she said. “As a kid, I always enjoyed being at school and in a classroom. I thought, why not just stay in the classroom? AVID showed me a different direction than special education. I’m studying to become an English teacher now.”

That reflection led her right back to the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage community — and eventually back to her original passion: education.

In 2022, Le Vvintre joined District 191 as an AVID tutor, working with Burnsville High School students three days a week. AVID — which stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination — helps students develop the organizational, study and leadership skills they’ll need for success in college and beyond.

As a tutor, she would guide small-group study sessions and help students strengthen habits like goal setting and note-taking. “I get to help them figure out how to learn — not just what to learn,” she said.

Her connection to AVID runs deep. She was an AVID student herself in high school, and she credits that experience for shaping both her work ethic and her empathy for the students she now supports.

“I know what it’s like to have to motivate yourself,” she said. “That helps me understand how to motivate my students.”

Through AVID, Le Vvintre sees education from multiple perspectives — as a student, a tutor, and now, as a teacher-in-training. “It’s given me a chance to look at education from all lenses,” she said. “And every week, I learn something new about what it means to be a teacher — even little things, like how to take attendance or organize a classroom Google folder.”

A Pathway to Teaching through Grow Your Own 

While working as an AVID tutor, Le Vvintre reconnected with one of her high school mentors, teacher Matt Deutsch, who taught the district’s Introduction to Education course — a class that gives high schoolers their first look at teaching as a career.

“I was actually in the very first group to take that class,” she said. “It gave me college credit through Normandale Community College, and it was my first real look into what teaching was like.”

Deutsch told her about the district’s Grow Your Own program — an initiative that helps non-licensed school employees in District 191 earn teaching degrees and return to teach in their own communities, and it was a perfect fit.

District 191 partners with Metropolitan State University, whose teacher preparation program is approved by the state’s Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB). Participants like Le Vvintre receive financial support for tuition through state-funded scholarships and stipends, particularly for candidates who are people of color or American Indian.

“When Mr. Deutsch told me about the program, I saw it as a really great opportunity,” she said. “It’s a way to go back to school without the overwhelming debt hanging over my head.”

For Le Vvintre, that financial support carries a deeper meaning. Her mother emigrated from El Salvador and once applied for an ROTC scholarship, but was turned down because she wasn’t yet a U.S. citizen.

“My mom tells that story a lot,” Le Vvintre said. “She eventually became a citizen, but I think about how this opportunity feels like everything coming full circle for our family. It’s like the world is giving something back.”

Le Vvintre officially joined the Grow Your Own program in the fall of 2023 and began coursework at Metropolitan State University the following summer. She’s now completing the English portion of her degree and her next two semesters will be focused on education courses. She will start student teaching in the 2026-27 school year.

Rooted in Community and Culture 

Through her studies and work with AVID, Le Vvintre has discovered where she feels most at home in the classroom: with high school students.

“I’ve worked with a range of grade levels, and I’ve learned that I really thrive with high schoolers,” she said. “I’m better with sophomores than freshmen, and better with juniors than seniors. You have to work with a bunch of age groups to see where you thrive best.”

She also appreciates the diverse District 191 community that shaped her own education.

“Burnsville has always been such a diverse place, and it’s only getting more diverse,” she said. “I had classmates who were Somali, Hmong, Vietnamese, and I learned so much from their cultures. Now that I’m working in the schools, I see even more of those cultures blending together, and it’s beautiful.”

In her classes at Metro State, she’s learning to apply what she observes in Burnsville to broader lessons about inclusion and belonging. “I learn a lot from my peers, especially when they share their own experiences,” she said. “One of my classmates shared a poem in Somali, and it opened my eyes to how language and culture connect. Those are things I want to bring into my own classroom.”

Le Vvintre has already had the chance to teach a few lessons through her program and summer experiences. “It eased my nerves being in front of a classroom,” she said. “Now I feel more prepared. It’s exciting!”

She’s also mentoring new AVID tutors, sharing what she’s learned over four years in the program. “It’s like breathing at this point,” she said with a smile. “I love it.”

As she looks ahead to her future as a teacher, Le Vvintre stays grounded in the moment,  focused on her coursework, her students and the joy of being back in a place that helped shape her.

“I have that excited voice in the back of my head,” she said. “But I also remind myself not to lose focus. I need to take things one step at a time and keep learning.”

For Le Vvintre, the classroom has always felt like home, first as a student, now as a teacher-in-training. And thanks to District 191’s Grow Your Own program, that circle of learning is just beginning again.