TEACHER BLENDS RELIGION AND ACADEMICS AT TRINITY

Fay Bruening says she looks for a little help from on high when teaching her third-graders at Trinity Lutheran School.

Combining religion and academics makes teaching at a parochial school like Trinity rewarding, she said. Bruening has been teaching at Trinity for eight years.

Before coming here, she worked four years at a Lutheran school in Rolla.

"I enjoy teaching here at Trinity because I am able to share God's word with my children throughout the day as well as teach the academics," said Bruening. "I try my best, with God's help, to help my children learn and try to do their best."

Bruening added that she tries to convey love to her students as well. "I feel it very important that each child in my class realize that I care and love each one very much," she said.

Bruening said third-graders grow and mature tremendously during the school year. "It's so fantastic to see a child grasp a concept when they have been working on it for some time," she said. "It is fun to watch them grow."

To help her students mature, Bruening said, "I share many personal experiences in my classroom to help the children realize that I am human like they are.

"I grew up in a close family with eight children," she said, "so I helped a lot with my younger brothers and sisters as well as my cousins. I babysat a lot and taught Sunday School. I liked teaching these children so I suppose that's why I went to college to become a teacher."

She earned a bachelor's degree from Concordia Teachers College at Seward, Neb.

She and her husband, James Bruening, have two children, Aaron, a senior at Central High School, and Sarah, an eighth-grader at Trinity.

Bruening sings in the choir at Trinity Lutheran Church and plays the trombone in the church's brass choir.

She also enjoys attending her children's volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball and softball games.