Linda Wallenberg, an English teacher at Eden Prairie High School, has been named the 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year. Wallenberg is celebrated for her long-standing contribution to education, now in her 49th year of teaching. She becomes the first educator from the Eden Prairie district to receive this prestigious recognition.
Wallenberg, affectionately known as “Wally” to her students, reflected on the essence of teaching with her statement, “Teaching is about the journey – the opportunity every fall and every single day to begin anew, to guide students along their own journeys, to build people, not just scholars.”
Sophia Yoerks, a 2024 graduate of Eden Prairie High School, expressed her admiration in a recommendation letter, stating, “Before meeting ‘Wally,’ I did not understand what true, unbridled devotion looked like. Not only does she teach impactful and informative material, but she also finds countless ways to connect both herself and her students with it.”
Wallenberg’s teaching career began after graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1975, following her earlier studies at Uppsala University in Sweden. She holds a degree in English and Scandinavian studies and is the first certified Swedish teacher in Minnesota. Her professional journey includes teaching 8th-grade English at Faribault Junior High and later at Eden Prairie High School as an English and Swedish teacher and head gymnastics coach.
Her academic accomplishments include a master’s degree in English education from the University of Minnesota. She has expanded her teaching career internationally, including her experience in Canterbury, England. For 42 summers, she has served as director and Swedish teacher at Concordia College’s Swedish Language Village.
Her accolades include being named Eden Prairie Teacher of the Year three times, a finalist for Minnesota Teacher of the Year in 2005 and 2025, National Gymnastics Coach of the Year twice, and recipient of the Royal Order of the Polar Star from Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf. Wallenberg is also an author of two gymnastics books, “Fundamental Gymnastics” and “Play-By-Play Gymnastics.”
Many of her students have achieved diverse professional successes, including in poetry, hockey, and the Olympics. Wallenberg takes pride in inspiring others to pursue teaching, with at least three of her former students becoming Minnesota Teacher of the Year finalists in the past five years.
The Teacher of the Year program is organized by Education Minnesota, the statewide educators union, and is underwritten by multiple organizations including Aviben, Education Minnesota ESI, Educators Lifetime Solutions, EFS Advisors, and others.
