Originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on October 14, 2025

POTLATCH, ID – Five years ago, Karen Rohn, a lifelong artist, couldn’t have imagined being Idaho’s K-12 Art Teacher of the year.

Because she wasn’t a teacher.

Rohn, 62, has lived in Potlatch most of her life. She has been drawn to art. As a young person, it can be hard to imagine life as a working artist in a small town, but after a few short stints away, Rohn discovered art can happen anywhere.

“I realized that it really wasn’t where you lived,” Rohn said. “It’s what you do as a person. You just have to grow wherever you happen to be.”

Last week, Rohn received the Idaho Art Education Association’s K-12 Art Educator of the Year award for her work teaching about 400 students STEAM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) in Potlatch.

‘Setting my own beat’

In her art, Rohn is largely drawn to photography but also paints with watercolors and acrylics. Often her photos inspire the written word.

She owns a store in Potlatch’s historic train depot, called BlackBird, where she sells art along with an eclectic mix of local and regional goods. Rohn also serves as the president of the local historical society and manages the depot.

Five years ago, Doug Richards the Potlatch Junior/ Senior High School Principal called Rohn to ask if she knew anyone who could teach art. Rohn, who had taught private art courses before, didn’t think Richards could be probing to see if she was interested.

Rohn called around to friends before consulting with her husband, who told her duh, Richards wanted her to apply.

She went in for an interview and hour and a half later, she had the job.

“I’m not a nine-to-five person at all. I feel like I’m a typical artist,” Rohn said.”But the one thing I’ve found out now is teaching — I’m setting my own beat.”

After that first year of teaching on a provisional certificate, Rohn was hooked enough to enroll in online classes at the College of Southern Idaho to get a masters degree and teaching certificate.

Heading back to school in her 50s when most of her friends were thinking about retiring was bizzare Rohn said but her students made it worth it.

“The love that you get from students is so incredible,” she said.

Rohn teaches two high school and one junior high art classes in the morning before heading over a few blocks to the Potlatch Elementary School to teach a series of STEAM courses for 30 minutes each.

Community Connector

It’s not uncommon for Rohn to show up to school to a pile of stuff waiting for her.

Sometimes it’s an answer to a request she put out on Facebook, other times it’s a retiree cleaning out their scrapbooking closet.

“It’s really great to have that support,” Rohn said.

And Rohn can use almost anything in an art class. On Tuesday, Rohn had a group of sixth grade students learning spacial and engineering concepts by building models of the Eiffel Tower from styrofoam tubes.

The tubes she stashed away three years ago when the shop teacher got new stools. Rohn helped unpack the new seats and when she saw the packing materials she saved them.

“People go, ‘Well what are you doing with that?’ and I go, “Oh I’ll figure something out,” Rohn said with a chuckle.

Most people in Potlatch know about Rohn’s art supply stash.

“She is a found-object person, and she sees something and thinks about how she can transform it, using creativity and a little bit of ingenuity, into something even better,” said Jill Diamond elementary school principal. “And so she’s giving those skills to our kids too.”

Some people think art courses are a little frivolous or cutesy, Rohn said but, she argued the courses offer so much more than meets the eye.

Building the towers taught students problem solving, she said. They had to work together in groups of three, divvying out tasks, and working together to build a structure that would stand up on its own in about 20 minutes. The whole thing was a competition and as Rohn counted down, students worked together, slapping on the last bit of tape.

Students learn how to think about processes in Rohn’s classes, Diamond said.

Physically building or making things translates to more conceptual classes, where students have to work on writing processes or through the steps of solving a math problem, Diamond said.

“She just really helps them see themselves in new ways, as makers and doers and thinkers,” Diamond said.

A confidence boost

When Rohn got the email that she won teacher of the year, she thought it was a joke, so much so she texted Superintendent Janet Avery to make sure it was real.

The award came as a surprise but one that served as a moment of affirmation, too.

“One thing it did do, even at age 62, doesn’t matter how old you are, you could have your confidence boosted,” Rohn said. “You can have somebody acknowledge that you’re heading down that right path.”

For her colleagues, the award was a confirmation of something they already know, Rohn’s artistic nature seeps out of her.

On Tuesday, people popped in and out of her classroom asking for help. The maintenance department wanted to know if she would paint signs on the trim for a project they are finishing. A high schooler sat in the corner, working on her senior project, a brochure she’s designing on Palouse plants.

Rohn has set up mural painting projects for students that are visible around the school, just like murals of her own are scattered around the palouse.

Without that community support, Rohn’s position wouldn’t exist, Diamond noted. The art and STEAM programs are paid for with the district’s supplemental levy funds, which are approved by voters every two years.

“Karen (Rohn) is a connector in the truest sense,” her nominators for the award wrote. “She actively engages our community in meaningful ways, inviting local support for our schools through donations, shared art displays, and collaborative public projects. Her ability to bring people together… is a gift that continues to strengthen the bonds within our small town.”