Mrs. Riepenhoff, a veteran Saint Robert teacher, has made her return to the school! She’s back, and this time teaching fifth grade Reading, Writing, and Social Studies. She originally left to have and care for her twin girls, but now that the girls are older, Mrs. Riepenhoff is back. It’s safe to say that she’s thrilled to be back in the swing of things here at Saint Robert School.

Mrs. Riepenhoff used to teach sixth grade English and Literature and seventh grade English, – Ms. DeLapp’s current job – but she left because she found out she was giving birth to twins around Christmas of 2013. According to Mrs. Riepenhoff, “The day after Christmas in 2013, my husband and I went to my twenty-week ultrasound and found out we were having twins. I had already been pregnant for five months, and that whole time, we thought we were having one daughter.” Mrs. Riepenhoff went on to explain that she was very surprised at the fact that she was having two children, but now her kids are five-year-olds. She then had to leave work earlier than she expected. 

At that point, Ms. DeLapp had just graduated from Marquette University, and Mrs. Beckmann was able to hire her as a long-term substitute. The original plan was for Ms. DeLapp to work directly with the sixth and seventh graders and for Mrs. Riepenhoff to grade papers, but as time went on Ms. DeLapp had started to make the class her own, so Mrs. Riepenhoff could get a break. She stated that the break was nice, but she “had never loved grading so much as those days grading from the hospital bed!” When her daughters, Nora and Aria, were born, it was clear to her that she needed to make caring for them her priority. She decided to stay home to take care of her children, and she had no idea when she’d ever be able to return to school.

Currently, Mrs. Riepenhoff teaches fifth grade at St. Robert. She writes, “I am learning so much from Mrs. Dietz, and also from the students. Fifth grade is a fun place to be, and I feel honored to be able to help the students prepare for middle school.” Right now she is teaching the fifth graders how to read and write to the best of their ability before they are sent up to middle school. She also said that she is very excited and “thrilled to be back at St. Robert.  It is comforting to return to a place with deep roots in the community.” She is very happy to be back in the swing of things at her school, and all of the students are happy about her return as well.

Though Mrs. Riepenhoff left our school to care for her children, Nora and Aria, she is now back and feeling better than ever. Her time away surely allowed her not only to raise her girls but to grow as a teacher as well. She feels happy to be a “part of a group of life-long learners who never stop growing and improving.” She even noted, “I love it here!” Mrs. Riepenhoff is back after almost six years of being gone, and every last student hopes that her experience in returning is amazing.