Meet Elementary Principal and Elementary STEM Director Dr. Kristen Newell
Sioux Falls Lutheran School is pleased to welcome Dr. Kristen Newell to the Sioux Falls Lutheran School family! She will join our team as our elementary principal and elementary STEM director as Mrs. Bernard dedicates her focus to serving as our preschool director (infants through 5-year-olds).
Dr. Newell attended Sioux Falls Lutheran School, Lincoln High School, and Concordia University, Nebraska (class of 2008), where she majored in secondary education, math, and physics. She quickly earned a Master of Science degree in Educational Administration, and in 2021 she earned a Doctor of Education degree in Leadership in Innovation and Continuous Improvement from Concordia University Wisconsin.
Most recently, Dr. Newell served as assistant principal and junior high math and science teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Bloomington, Illinois. Her prior experiences include serving as enrollment coordinator at Trinity, math teacher at Orange Lutheran Online, and middle school teacher at Christ Community Lutheran School in St. Louis.
Dr. Newell and her husband, Pastor Billy–who will serve as the pastor at Lord of Life Lutheran Church here in Sioux Falls–have four children who will attend SFLS. In her free time, Dr. Newell enjoys exercising, reading, writing, and spending as much time as she can outdoors with their children. She is thrilled for the opportunity to return to serve at SFLS!
Check out the Q&A below to learn more about Dr. Newell and her passion for serving in educational leadership.
Tell me a bit about yourself and your family.
The Newell family is a crazy bunch! My husband, Billy, is a Lutheran pastor. We have four children: Josiah (11), Addison (9), Naomi (7), and Evelynn (4). We love being active outside, playing sports, practicing music, and having fun. We also like to have rhythms of rest together with Friday night movie nights, afternoon rest time, and Sunday evenings in fellowship with other families. We also prioritize spending time with Jesus in devotions, worship, and prayer. Our days and weeks are messy. Our house is messy. We end up at church some days with no shoes! But we are trying to follow after Jesus more closely and to walk in his ways.
I was born in Sioux Falls and attended SFLS from three years old to eighth grade. During my elementary years I was a competitive gymnast and loved all of the music options at Sioux Falls Lutheran. I went to Lincoln high school, where I found many friends in the marching band and also ran track. After graduating, I went to Concordia University, Nebraska, majoring in secondary education, math, and physics. That is where I met Billy, my husband. Billy and I moved to St. Louis for him to attend the seminary. While there, I was able to teach middle school math and science at Christ Community Lutheran School (CCLS).
After Josiah was born, I was able to stay home with him. I continued to be involved in Lutheran education as a stay-at-home mom by teaching for Orange Online (the Lutheran High School in Orange, CA). I also tutored Lutheran school students both inside and outside of the school day. In Bloomington, I became Trinity Lutheran School’s Enrollment Coordinator developing their enrollment and marketing processes. When Trinity needed a middle school math and science teacher, I stepped into that role, and then supported Trinity as an assistant principal utilizing my doctoral degree in Leadership in Innovation and Continuous Improvement.
Returning to Sioux Falls is a fun way to see this path come full circle!
How did you decide to pursue a career in Lutheran education?
As a middle school student at SFLS, I learned that I enjoyed being able to help my classmates with questions on their homework. I particularly enjoyed explaining math concepts in different ways for different people to help them figure out the problems on their own. As an eighth grader, I recognized there was a need for Lutheran school math teachers and decided that was what I wanted to do.
When I was in my undergraduate program at Concordia University, Nebraska, I was unsure if taking the extra course work to be a Lutheran teacher was important. In talking with one of my professors, however, I realized that while Christian teachers are important in public schools, nothing can replace being able to openly share the Gospel and the name of Jesus Christ with my students. I am grateful for the wisdom of that professor and cannot imagine trying to be an educator without being able to teach through the explicit lens of the word of God, including forgiveness, grace, and the salvation that comes only through Jesus.
What inspired you to become a school leader?
I love education, and I love helping people know more about Jesus. Being able to do both of them at the same time at a Lutheran school is fabulous! I want to do everything I can to help Lutheran schools continue to be influential educational leaders while never losing sight of the bigger mission of sharing the forgiveness and love of Jesus and helping people to follow Jesus everyday as they live, work, and play. While I know I could be impactful and important in the classroom, I have felt that God is calling me to use my gifts to help lead leaders. As I look back, I see God working a path to prepare me as an organizational leader, and I am simply trying to follow where he leads.
Describe your experiences with STEM-based learning, and share what you look forward to about serving as our elementary STEM director.
In this generation, everything we touch is STEM-based. At the very least, the “T” in STEM (technology) is all around us. All learning can be integrated with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As a middle school math and science teacher, I was able to both integrate STEM into my instruction and classroom activities, as well as directly teach STEM skills and methods.
As a STEM director, I look forward to equipping students to be inquisitive and creative problem solvers who will be successful in our future world. This future will contain jobs that don’t currently exist and that we have a hard time even imagining. The problems our students will be asked to solve in the future will require unique and innovative solutions with possibly limited resources. It is exciting to be a part of teaching students to think and then watch as they use their own gifts and passions to let their knowledge blossom.
Having grown up in Sioux Falls, what excites you about returning to town and the SFLS community?
I am thrilled to be returning to Sioux Falls to be close to family and all things South Dakota (rolling prairie, the Black Hills, the falls, the “small town feel”). I also appreciate the cultural arts experiences in Sioux Falls, including a plethora of free music concerts and the art work found in downtown Sioux Falls.
I am excited to return to the SFLS community, as it was an impactful and formative place for me when I was growing up. I am still in contact with many teachers I had during those years. As an eighth grade student, I decided to become a Lutheran school teacher because I felt that was the place I could have the most impact serving in God’s kingdom. I felt a strong calling to be a part of ensuring Lutheran schools continue in generations to come as they work to teach students and families how to follow Jesus and serve in this world. I am thrilled to return to “the place where it all began” and give back to the place that poured so much into me.
Favorite Bible verse:
“What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” –Micah 6:8
About Sioux Falls Lutheran School
At Sioux Falls Lutheran School, our mission is to develop capable, Christian servant-leaders in a complex world who are World Ready and Faith Secure. We are passionate about giving our students the tools they need to be successful academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. We strive to accomplish this goal by maintaining high academic standards, employing excellent teachers, and upholding a Christian worldview drawn from Scripture. Ultimately, we are committed to partnering with parents and the church to raise lifelong learners who use their gifts and the fruits of the Spirit, in faith, to touch a troubled world with God’s grace.