By Kate Wallace
You’ve probably seen biology instructor Jen Evens at SCTCC walking through the halls with a happy smile, talking animatedly to her students and colleagues. She talks fast, and her ability to make someone feel at ease happens even faster. Even though she’s been on campus for 15 years, she feels like she’s been at SCTCC forever – to her, the college is home.
A native of St. Cloud and graduate of Apollo High School, she has relatives who came to SCTCC when it only offered degrees in trades and technical degrees. When it came time for her to choose a college, the choice she had for her career path was at a four-year university.
“And that’s where I was off to,” she said. But she wasn’t done learning – she was mid-career in the medical laboratory business and was looking for some professional development. Evens ended up taking the supervisor management program at SCTCC and became a supervisor in her industry.
Knowing how Jen makes an impression on others, it’s no surprise that a couple years later she got a phone call from the dean at the time and was asked to teach a couple classes as an adjunct instructor for an accelerated nursing degree. So Evens came to SCTCC and taught anatomy and physiology classes, and along the way she fell in love with teaching.
To progress from adjunct, she went back to school and earned her master’s degree, and in 2015, she was offered a full-time permanent position teaching biology.
“What’s really fun about my journey is I worked in the medical lab business for 20-25 years, and a lot of my students are going into the health care profession. I think my students like to know that I understand their journey and the profession,” Evens shared.
To understand her students even more she went through the nursing assistant classes at SCTCC, and because of the limited number of professionals during the pandemic, she started working as a CNA at a local nursing home. Of course, she brings that experience back to the classroom for her students, too.
“My colleagues and I love being here, we love helping each other, and we love most of all helping our students who are going to be out in the community to help our community with their health,” Evens said. “As I have that experience with community partners, I can share that with my students and we start building each other up. We have great relationships. We see each other and it’s not just a handshake, it’s a hug. It’s those connections. The community is ours together because we build it together.”
Being supportive really hit home in 2016 when Evens was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and she became sight challenged. She understood the accessibility issues that many have and the difficulties navigating their education and career.
“It was one of those things where, do I hide it? Do I share it? But when I started seeing students with struggles, I was like no – let’s share it. There are different ways that we can overcome challenges, so why don’t you let me help you so we can get you to be successful?” Evens explained.
She’s also noticed how the college has progressed with accessibility and equity, from referring her students to the Accessibility Services office to being the co-chair of the Cultural Fluency Leadership Committee. Her presence in various committees and activities on campus has really made her a champion for embracing weaknesses and challenges because addressing them makes us stronger overall.
Being a champion for student success really comes back to how she feels about SCTCC: to her, when she thinks of the students and her colleagues, she thinks of them as family. And family, whether by genetics or choosing, helps each other out and builds each other up, which is what she does here at SCTCC. “It’s home and it’s family,” Evens finished up. “It’s joyous.”