By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

Pam Koopman has immersed herself in the Prior Lake community on a variety of levels since moving here from Lakeville 10 years ago.

Koopman held a full-time position as an accountant with the school district for a couple of years after moving to Prior Lake. Since then, she scaled back her workload from full-time to part-time and shifted from the accounting side of the coin to community education, where she was the department’s monitor supervisor for the last seven years.Pam Koopman of Prior Lake was
recently hired as the Prior Lake
-Savage Area School District’s
energy efficiency coordinator.
(Photo by Shawn Hogendorf)

In December, Koopman changed jobs within the school district again, when she was hired as the energy efficiency coordinator, a part-time position that oversees the recently adopted Schools for Energy Efficiency (SEE) program in the district. SEE is a program to help K-12 schools save energy and money by changing behavior throughout school districts.

“We focus on low-cost or no-cost ways to save energy,” she said. “In this program, like in all facets of education, we start by getting to the kids, as that is where everything starts.”

The hope is to teach children the environment-first style of thinking, she said.

“Kids may not think that shutting off a light can save 50 cents, but they know it will save energy,” she said.

Koopman is attempting to reach students by hanging posters on walls and placing stickers on light plates that read, “Turn it off to save energy.”

She is also working on a program that will create “energy-efficient teams” of students who will act as “energy police” to inspect school buildings and write journal entries with ways students think energy-saving behavior can be changed.

“This is my way of being able to help without being a teacher,” Koopman said. “I get to teach energy efficiency by simply changing the students’ behaviors.”

When Koopman isn’t working, she is probably at a Prior Lake Athletics for Youth (PLAY) function with her husband Mike and her two children: Ben, 12 and Kayla, 16.

“My children are very active – and PLAY is a huge part of our lives,” Koopman said. “We spend the majority of our time watching sports, as Ben is in not only one, but two sports every season.”

As a happy homebody just a few years ago, Koopman said her work within the school district and her children’s involvement in local activities are the two reasons she “sticks her nose in just about everything around the community.”

Q and A with

Pam Koopman

What is your favorite thing about living in Prior Lake?

I just think PLAY does a fabulous job getting kids involved in sports with both the in-house and traveling programs.

What is your favorite type of food to cook?

Thai or Chinese.

What is the last good book you read?

“The Traveling Team” by Mike Lupica, as that is the series we used to try and get our son into reading more often.

What’s your favorite TV show?

“Criminal Minds.”

What is something most people don’t know about you?

That I am very passionate when I believe in something.

What’s your dream vacation?

Ireland.

 Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.