Nataliya Dorweiler. Photos: Morgan Chapman Media
English Language Learner teacher at Lake Middle School shows the American Dream can happen.
Nataliya Dorweiler wore a beautiful ball gown topped off with sparkling shoes and was overcome by emotion as she was presented with her Educator of the Year award at the Woodbury Area Chamber of Commerce’s Community Awards Gala. It’s not just an award this year—it’s an achievement of a dream, the American Dream. On the evening of January 19, Dorweiler accepted the award for her work as an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher at Lake Middle School. What makes this year so special is that Dorweiler is a ELL learner herself. “It’s really difficult, not impossible to do this,” Dorweiler says.
Dorweiler was a teacher in Ukraine when she won the U.S. lottery for a green card. In March 2002, she and her family packed their bags and headed to the U.S., putting down roots in South Carolina. Unfortunately, upon arrival, Dorweiler did not have a teaching license, plus she didn’t speak the language and times were tight. “My first job was cleaning at Walmart,” she says. Times got even more difficult when tragedy struck the family, and her husband was killed in a car accident. At that point, a determined Dorweiler made a decision. “Maybe I will do something to become somebody,” she says. So, she got a job in a restaurant to start learning conversational English and later another job, working at a factory in South Carolina, which also helped her learn the language. “I love to read, so I started reading more in English, and I realized that I could learn all these things,” Dorweiler says. Because of the many pathways she took to learn the language, she quickly became fluent in English and is considered a self-taught English learner.
In 2005, she met Mike Dorweiler, hailing from Cottage Grove, at the factory in South Carolina. They moved to Wisconsin, and he encouraged her to follow her passion and become a teacher in the U.S. “We evaluated several pathways to become a teacher and one was to become a substitute teacher. It was also the shortest path to see if teaching is what I wanted to do,” Dorweiler says. Enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, she found that a majority of her teaching certification credits from Ukraine would transfer, and she only needed two classes to achieve her substitute teaching certificate. In January 2007, she found herself back in the classroom as a substitute teacher. “I couldn’t believe it, I was back in a classroom and I loved it,” Dorweiler says. At the same time, she continued her classes at River Falls to get her full teaching credentials up to date. It was the encouragement from her college professor that led her to her first teaching position within the Hudson School District as a ELL assistant, starting in fall 2007. “It was here that I discovered ELL was where I was supposed to be,” Dorweiler says. She has since finished her master’s degree at River Falls and is licensed to teach grades K–12, specifically targeted to teach English to speakers of other languages.
ELL teacher Nataliya Dorweiler fosters a uniquely positive learning environment for her students at Lake Middle School.
In 2018, when the ELL position just across the river at the Woodbury school district opened, she jumped at the opportunity and was hired. “Lake [Middle School] became a beautiful place and a good opportunity for me. It just felt right,” Dorweiler says. And Molly Roeske, principal of Lake Middle School, agrees. “I believe that Mrs. Dorweiler is one of the finest educators I have had the pleasure to have on my staff in my 20 years of school administration,” Roeske says. In fact, over her career, Roeske has only nominated a little more than a handful of people for Educator of the Year. “She’s an amazing teacher and educator. Then you add in her personal experience and that makes her even more effective,” Roeske says. “She creates a positive learning environment that fosters respect and responsibility in her classroom and within the school-wide setting.
“Mrs. Dorweiler displays consistently strong efforts and solid skills in creating engaging learning opportunities, both academically and socially, for her students,” Roeske says. Last year, Dorweiler planned one of her ever-creative and immersive teaching experiences for her students. It was a winter sledding and snowshoeing day. For Dorweiler, the day wasn’t just about education, it was also about the student experience. To make the event happen, she made sure that each student had everything they needed for a winter day in Minnesota, from mittens to coats and everything in between. She intertwined learning and culture, and topped the day off with s’mores. “Dorweiler teaches how to embrace living in Minnesota. It’s so much more than learning a language; it’s embracing a culture,” says Laurie Staiger, president and CEO of the Woodbury Area Chamber of Commerce.
This year, the Woodbury Area Chamber of Commerce received a record-setting number of nominations for its prestigious Educator of the Year award. “We are blessed to live in Woodbury, where it is really hard to choose the best of the best. It really doesn’t get any better than that,” Staiger says. Educator of the Year is chosen by a committee that represents the owners and operators of business members of the chamber. Each year, the award goes to the nominee based on how this person impacted their students, how many others they have impacted and how far-reaching in the community their work goes. In Dorweiler’s case, her efforts reach far beyond the classroom and into the homes of her students. “Here, we have a woman who is truly the American Dream,” Staiger says.
The sentiment is felt all around. This year, Dorweiler is the best of the best, voted by the chamber, nominated by her principal and adored by her students. Her students have truly led her to this award. “She is really helpful if you have any trouble in classes. She is always there to help you. She is nice, kind and is always there to listen,” says Emmanuelle Cheumani Keleko, an eighth-grade student of Dorweiler.
It started with winning a green card lottery back in 2001 and on that magical evening in January, all of Dorweiler’s years of hard work came to fruition. She stood on stage in her beautiful gown and sparkling shoes, took a deep breath, accepted her award and thought to herself, “Here I am,” Dorweiler says.
To learn more about the Woodbury Area Chamber of Commerce and its annual Community Awards Gala, visit woodburychamber.org.
