Frethem Closes the Book on 35 Years in the Classroom
- Jun 9
- 1 min read
by Trinity Gruenberg
After more than three decades of teaching, Mark Frethem is preparing to step away from the classroom, closing a career that began in the early 1990s and spanned generations of local students, colleagues, and coaches.
Frethem began teaching in the 1990-91 school year, spending a year in Nevis before coming to Bertha-Hewitt in 1991-92.
He is a native of Fosston, which is just west of Bemidji. He spent six years in the Navy, serving primarily in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
“I didn’t start teaching until I was 29,” he said.
He has maintained ties to his years of service, including speaking at a local Veterans Day program.
Teaching runs in Frethem’s family. His mother, sister, and brother-in-law were teachers.
Over the years, Frethem has taught primarily third and fourth grade, though he started with sixth grade in Nevis. In recent years, he shifted into working with Title programs.
“The last two years, I’ve just been doing the Title stuff, mainly math and some reading,” he noted.
That change meant leaving behind some of the routines he cherished most as a classroom teacher.
“The daily relationships that you get to make with the kids—I don’t get that now or certainly not to the same extent,” he shared. “I do miss story time, because I had the best stories that I read to the class and I’m sure those stories will never be read again. They were old, but they’re classics..."
Comments