All Things Considered

Eden Prairie educator and coach honored as Teacher of the Year

portrait of a woman smiling
Eden Prairie educator Linda Wallenberg is 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
Courtesy of Education Minnesota via press release

Eden Prairie High School’s Linda Wallenberg has been named Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year.

She is the first from her district to earn the honor, which was awarded Sunday at the annual banquet hosted by teachers’ union Education Minnesota.

At a time when teacher retention continues to be a challenge for many school districts, Wallenberg has accomplished a rare feat of staying in the classroom for nearly five decades.

“It’s a calling of the heart, calling of love,” Wallenberg said. “I really do not believe that we just make scholars out of our students — but we actually do build people.”

Wallenberg has also taught Swedish and is a nationally renowned gymnastics coach.

For more with Linda Wallenberg, click play on the audio player.