First grade teacher at St. Vincent de Paul School wants to inspire educators
Publication date: August 30, 2022
Alecia Schaefer
Emily Dana, a first grade teacher at St. Vincent de Paul School in Rogers, maintains an Instagram account for elementary school teachers.
Emily Dana, 30, was a student at Benedict College and knew she wanted to teach.
In 2014, she graduated with a dual major in Elementary and Special Education and a minor in Dance and Theology, and was awarded Kansas’ “Student Teacher of the Year” as a senior. Her first year she began teaching was at David Brewer Elementary School in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Moving to Rogers the following year brought her closer to home and she began teaching first grade for four years at the St. Vincent de Paul School. During that time, she also married Tom Dana, a Benedictine graduate. She later moved to San Francisco with her husband and St. Veronica taught her sophomore year at her school and coached cheerleaders. When he enrolled her in 2020 at Georgetown Her Law School, she returned to Rogers and at SVdP she began teaching her first grade again. Her career includes coaching cheerleaders, teaching her STEM camps at Kansas State and her SVdP, and being a featured speaker at a women’s retreat at the University of Arkansas.
Last year, she and fellow teacher Alex Baldwin created an Instagram account, @gratefulinggradeschool, with the aim of “collaborating and inspiring educators and influencing a younger generation of teachers.” It provides products and resources, Dana said.
“I have spent time investing in Catholic education because I believe in strong family values and the mission of Catholic schools to develop the whole human being in educating children. I want to instill a love of things, but also teach them to celebrate what belongs to our Catholic Faith,” she said.
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