Rochester Educator Takes Home Minnesota ESP of the Year Award

A Rochester, MN Public Schools educator has taken home an exciting, statewide award! There's only one winner picked each year out of the whole state. For the 2025-26 school year, that winner works right here in Rochester.

The award is the Education Minnesota Education Support Professional (ESP) of the Year. Each school year, a new ESP is given the award at a special ceremony. This year's happened on Saturday, November 1st.

ALSO READ: Why There's No Election Day in Rochester, MN for 2025

What is an Education Support Professional (ESP)?

Before we continue, I wasn't totally sure what an ESP was or did. So I looked it up!

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The National Education Association defines an ESP as people who "play a vital role on the education team and in students' lives inside and outside the classroom. They keep our schools running and our students safe, healthy, and ready to learn every day."

Rochester, MN ESP Wins ESP of the Year Award

Drumroll, please, for the ESP of the Year award winner...

Big congrats to Monica Eggert, an education support professional at Rochester Alternative Learning Center and the winner of the 2025-26 ESP of the Year Award!

Ms. Eggert has been with Rochester Public Schools for 13 years. She started as a substitute for multiple grade levels. After that, she "worked as a middle and high school ESP before stepping into her current role as a special education ESP at Rochester Alternative Learning Center."

Education Minnesota writes this about Ms. Eggert:

Eggert focuses on building trust with her students, beginning every morning by greeting every single student by name. “I believe this consistent recognition helps build a sense of belonging,” she said in nomination materials for the award. “It’s these tiny, repeat moments that I know will create the biggest ripple effect in our students’ lives…this is how trust grows.”

She sounds like an amazing ESP and is definitely well-deserving of this award. Congrats!