Stacy Stork is a mother at home, as well as in the classroom

Busy and chaotic is how Ellendale Elementary School third-grade teacher Stacy Stork will say her life is like. “Managing the schedule and having to be at four places at once isn’t always easy,” she said. “They keep life interesting and fun for us.”
Stork and her husband, Dan, both teachers in the New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale- Geneva School District, are raising four children, as well as in a way, raising children in their individual classrooms.
The Storks have four children – Anna, a senior, Jake, an eighth-grader, Sophie, a fifth-grader and Chloe, a first-grader. 
As Mother’s Day approaches, Stacy Stork said she has loved every second of being a mother. “But it is challenging,” she said. “It is really rewarding to see your kids with their successes and being there for their bad times.”
She always wanted to be a mother. “It is the most difficult job in the world, but it is also the most rewarding,” she said. “The unconditional love between parents and children; until you experience it you don’t get it.”
This year is especially difficult for Stacy because her first child – Anna – will be graduating. “It is hard. It has been very emotional for me,” she said. “She is going to be gone soon. The relationship and dynamics of the mother-daughter is going to change. It is going to be hard to let her go.”
She also continues to learn something each year as her children get older. “I think you have to learn to lighten up and you pick your battles,” she said. “You learn from your mistakes. That first child you want everything to be perfect. Your morale and values for your children don’t change, but the little things you kind of let go. Each child is very much different.”
The one thing Stacy hopes to instill in all of her children is to be kind, compassionate and be a hard working person, no matter what path the children choose in life. “Life is about love and kindness and doing for others,” she said.
As a mother, she also serves as a role model in her own classroom.“I treat the students the classroom the way I would want other educators to treat my own children with kindness and compassion,” Stacy said.
“I’m a teacher and mom in the classroom to my kids.”
Stacy also continues to pass on the important things that her mother has passed on to her. 
“She was always very funny. She was always proud of me. She was a good role model as far as being a kind person and doing for others,” Stacy said. “I try to show my kids that as well.”
On Mother’s Day, Stacy said it is a special day where she is thankful that God blessed her with four children. “I’m thankful every day, but there is more of a focus on Mother’s Day.”