Doubling down

It's amazing what some mothers are capable of.

Teresa Risovi, a mother of three young boys and a full-time special education teacher, recently earned her double Master's degree from the University of Mary (UMary) in K-12 administration and special education strategy.

It's among the highest academic achievements an individual can earn, requiring years of hard work and dedication. Only 13 percent of people in the U.S. get one master's, let alone two.

Risovi finally achieved hers this April, and as if that's not enough, the Bismarck native and New Rockford resident has already begun working toward her Doctorate of Education at UMary for educational leadership and administration.

By summer's end she'll be fully credentialed as both a K-12 principal and superintendent, and she's scheduled to finish her doctorate in 2028.

Undertaking that much education would be a lot for anyone to handle by itself, but Risovi also juggles her education with her responsibilities as a mother and as a full-time special education teacher at Fessenden-Bowdon Public School.

How does she handle it all?

Well, Risovi said it's all about structure and very early mornings.

"I have a very structured schedule," she explained. "My life pretty much revolves around getting up early. I do homework starting about 4:30 in the morning, until my kids are up and I switch gears to being mom, and then I'm also a teacher so I go to school and put on my teacher hat.

"Then I come home to be mom again, and I do it all over again the next day."

Helping her through it all is her husband, Jeremy Risovi. Their three boys – Lincoln, Benjamin and JJ – are now 11, 10 and 6 years old, respectively, and have been active in local activities such as youth baseball and archery.

For Risovi, all these years of higher education and hard work is also part of a pretty sharp career change.

She first graduated from Century High School in Bismarck in 1994, and earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of North Dakota in 2012.

She's had several jobs over the years, including roughly a decade spent as a 911 dispatcher in both North Dakota and Colorado.

When asked what drove her to make such a sharp career change and commit to years of additional higher education, she said it's all for her children.

"I wanted to have the same schedule as my kids and to be involved in their education," she said. "I've always loved learning and I wanted to play a more active role."

"I volunteered in Lori Demester's classroom when my oldest boy was in preschool, and I fell in love with education at that point," said Risovi. "And then I decided to go back and get my degree."

Since then, Risovi has worked as a substitute teacher and as the third grade teacher at Oberon Elementary School, before switching it up a little and becoming a special education teacher, first at New Rockford-Sheyenne and now at Fessenden-Bowdon.

She said her time at Oberon is what helped her realize a passion for special education and the joys of ensuring every child has the best possible education.

"When I was in Oberon, the differentiation and the education gap was so huge that I really had to get creative in my individual classroom, and that's where I really fell in love with special education," said Risovi. "I've substitute-taught in special ed too, and I've just always found it very interesting that you have to be able to get creative with how you teach students."

"I love the challenges that come with it, and love celebrating the successes with the students," she added.

Regarding the future, Risovi said her focus is on becoming a principal or superintendent, or maybe even teaching at the college level one day.

Whatever she does, she'll have worked hard to get there and she'll be doing what she loves.

"I enjoy the uniqueness of every student and how every student can learn," said Risovi. "Every student learns differently, and so I love the challenges that come with figuring out what we can do to make the academics stick and to see the gains in each kid."

For more about the successes of college students around the area, see our special Collegiate Congratulations section in this newspaper.