How Two IAVA Educators Build Real Connections in Virtual Classrooms

Renee Mente and Karen Zuercher pay attention to the kinds of things that don’t always make it in a progress report. A student who starts speaking up a little more often. Someone who asks for help ahead of time. A shift in how a student explains their thinking. These moments may be subtle, but they matter.

As teachers at Iowa Virtual Academy (IAVA), Renee and Karen seek to understand each student’s individual rhythm. Every message, every lesson, every check-in is an opportunity to build trust and keep learning moving forward.

Students may not recall the details of every lesson from a specific week, but they leave their classrooms with a better understanding of how they learn, and with a stronger sense of what they’re capable of.

Renee and Karen are redefining what connection looks like in an online classroom. While their students log in from different corners of the state, the impact these teachers have is anything but distant.

Karen Zuercher: Building Trust One Student at a Time

Karen’s journey into teaching began through support roles. She spent nearly two decades as a classroom aide before becoming a full-time educator. That time taught her how to observe, listen and respond in ways that make students feel capable.

Since joining IAVA in 2014, she has taught across multiple grade levels and subjects. No matter the subject, her classroom is a place where students can approach a subject with less worry about understanding it and more curiosity about how to learn it.

One student, after moving to another school, reached out to thank her. The student shared that math had always been a struggle, but in Karen’s class the experience of learning it began to feel possible.

Karen also recalls a student who vanished mid-semester with no notice. She kept sending emails, making phone calls and reminding the student she was still seen, still missed, still valued. Eventually, the student came back. She graduated. And she stays in touch to this day.

Karen doesn’t talk about breakthroughs. She talks about small moments — progress made over time, trust built through repetition, and relationships that continue after the final grade is posted.

“You can’t fake it here,” Karen said. “If you’re not present and intentional, students feel it.”

Renee Mente: A Voice Students Don’t Forget

Renee brings an energy to her teaching that students respond to. Her teaching style uses humor, structure and a clear sense of purpose to create a space where students know what’s expected and feel motivated to reach it.

Having taught everything from science to PE, her feedback is always direct and actionable. Students hear the truth from her. She doesn’t sugarcoat things. She tells them when their work isn’t good enough — but only because she knows they can do better. That honesty, she says, builds trust.

“I tell them, ‘You’re not going to like me every day, but I’m going to push you every day.’” Renee said.

She helps students see what they’re capable of, even when they don’t believe it themselves. She remembers one quiet, withdrawn student who never turned on their microphone. Each week, Renee would gently ask if they wanted to speak. Eventually, the student responded. And then responded again the next week. And the one after that.

“It seems small,” she said. “But that’s when you know they trust you.”

Renee gives students permission to be themselves, while also holding them to high standards. It’s a balance that’s hard to strike, but she’s made it her signature.

The Architecture of Attention

Renee and Karen practice a kind of attention that can’t be automated. They remember what their students are working toward, not just what’s due this week. And they use those insights to guide their responses. Personalized signals that say: someone is paying attention.

Plenty of students arrive at IAVA needing something more than curriculum. Some are managing anxiety that makes traditional settings overwhelming. Others are balancing jobs, sports, health issues or caregiving responsibilities.

Karen and Renee meet students with questions rather than assumptions. They make accommodations without erasing accountability. And most importantly they give students a reason to keep showing up — even when life outside school pulls them in other directions.

Their impact is measured in the student who logs in that day after a hard week. In the assignments submitted late but not ignored. In the gradual return of effort after a period of withdrawal. These things happen because someone on the other side of the screen keeps making clear they’re still paying attention.

This is What Teaching Looks Like

They’re patient in a way most of us aspire to be. They’re persistent in ways that often go unnoticed. And they’re present in a form that lives in the memory of every student they refuse to give up on.

The work Renee Mente and Karen Zuercher perform each day reflects the best of student-centered teaching. Iowa Virtual Academy honors them for what they do — and for how they do it. With care. With humor. And with a deep belief that every student deserves to be seen.

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