Three degrees, one calling: How a Bethel graduate is leading in multilingual education

She didn’t plan to earn three degrees from Bethel—or step into leadership after nearly two decades in the classroom. But at each turning point, she found herself saying yes. 

Krista Aadland ’03, S’12, GS’25 serves as St. Paul City School’s multilingual learner program coordinator, a vital position in a school where over half of the students are English language learners. 

Aadland’s path to this role wasn’t linear, but it was intentional, guided by prayer and a willingness to say yes to where God was leading—even when that path changed.

Saying yes to a calling

“I’ve always wanted to be a teacher,” Aadland  says. The summer before her freshman year at Bethel, Aadland found herself on a bus headed to Paraguay's Iguazu Falls on a mission trip with her church. 

“We were riding down the highway, and this feeling just overcame me: ‘I want to work with people who don’t speak English as a first language.’ I had never thought of that before—it had never crossed my mind—but the trip made it so clear,” Aadland says. “It was great to see God’s huge heart for the world, and how language doesn’t diminish His power or ability in any way.”

Within a year of enrolling at Bethel, the Department of Education added a program in teaching English as a second language (ESL). Aadland was the first student to declare it as her major. 

Saying yes to the unknown

After graduation, Aadland had the opportunity to teach at an international school in Thailand. “I went there totally by myself,” Aadland says. She taught eighth grade and eventually high school social studies—an area outside of her licensure—because there was a gap that needed to be filled. 

One year turned into two, which turned into five. Aadland stayed until her first eighth grade class graduated from high school. What began as a short-term step turned into five years of saying yes to whatever was needed.

“I brought three suitcases home with me—five years of living fit into just three suitcases.”

Saying yes to formation

When Aadland returned to the U.S., she found herself at another turning point—one that would shape both her faith and her future. She sensed God calling her back to a desire that had emerged during her undergrad: seminary. 

“Bethel Seminary was an obvious choice because not only was I familiar with the campus, but I was also in alignment with their values, their beliefs,” Aadland says.

“I also liked the fact that there were women professors and women in leadership,” she says. “That was something that wasn't as important to me at the time as it is now, but looking back, I'm very glad that was a part of my experience.” 

Aadland returned from Thailand as a full-time student again. She wanted a degree that would complement her ESL degree, so instead of pursuing a Master of Divinity, she chose a master’s in transformational leadership with an emphasis in global and contextual studies. While the program has since evolved, Bethel continues to prepare students to engage thoughtfully with culture, faith, and global communities.

“I remember so many moments during seminary where we had fantastic conversations as a class. I remember we laughed a lot, too,” Aadland says. “It was just a really great community that was established during that time, and that really strengthened my overall experience because having that strong community where we were all going through seminary together was huge.”

Saying yes—even when she said no

“During my last year of seminary, the Lord showed me that education was still the plan he had for me,” Aadland says. So she headed back to the classroom for several years, teaching in multiple settings through 2020. Then, the challenges of long-distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic created a new era of students—students with gaps in their education.

Aadland naturally asked all of the right questions: ‘How do we support these students? How do we ensure each student gets what they need?’ She wasn’t afraid to try new things, and her colleagues started to notice. 

“I heard from so many different people, saying ‘You should really think about going into administration, because you have really good ideas. You’re really systematic in your thinking. I could really see that you’d be a powerful person in a position like that,’” Aadland says.

She faced this encouragement with one personal line in the sand: “I am not going back to school. I will never get my doctorate.”

Saying yes to Bethel again

But that line didn’t last. Aadland investigated Ed.D. programs in higher education leadership in the Twin Cities area—and there were plenty—but one university rose to the top of her list once more.

“I was just really drawn to Bethel again. The whole model of the education program was really thinking about leading as servant leadership. You’re trained to come alongside and support other people, because you want to strengthen your teachers,” Aadland says. “And I agreed with that position.”

For Aadland, the idea of an educational leadership program without a foundation of faith just didn't make sense. “Teaching and being in education can be exhausting at times. But then I have to remember why I said yes in the first place. This is my calling,” she says. “Without that foundation of faith, it’d be really easy for me to just give up and walk away.”

What stood out most wasn’t the coursework itself—it was how Bethel challenged her to think more deeply about the connection between her faith and her work. “Bethel really helped me see how important that is, because that’s where the passion comes from,” Aadland says. “Otherwise, you’re just doing a job. But when you have a bigger reason—when you remember why you said yes—that’s what keeps you going.”

Saying yes to greater impact

While earning her doctorate, Aadland moved into her current role as multilingual program coordinator at St. Paul City School, and she quickly saw the impact of her educational leadership doctorate in her day-to-day work. “This position allowed me to connect my learning with real on-the-job experience, which further cemented my reason for enrolling in the first place,” she says. 

Bethel’s Ed.D. program helped Aadland think intentionally about leading—how to structure meetings, support teachers, and communicate clearly. “Instead of just meeting to meet, I’m always asking, ‘What’s the goal? What do we want to accomplish, and how do we get there?’”

Clear communication became a cornerstone of her leadership approach.

“One of my mentors always said, ‘Clear is kind,’” Aadland says. “That’s stuck with me. When communication is clear, it respects people’s time and helps them do their jobs well.” 

Today, Aadland leads and supports a team of teachers and paraprofessionals serving multilingual learners—students who are continuing to develop their English language skills—to ensure decisions are based on inclusive, data-informed practices that meet both state and federal requirements.

For Aadland, that work reflects a broader belief about education.

“All teachers are language teachers,” she says. “No matter the subject, we all play a role in helping students build the academic language they need to succeed.”

Saying yes to students

That belief shapes everything about how Aadland and her team show up for students each day. 

St. Paul City School is a full-service community school. They offer dental services and an in-house health clinic for vaccinations, wellness checks, and sports physical checks. They run a food shelf and provide glasses and vision testing for students.

“Our vision as a school is called Vision 8:16,” Aadland says. “We see our students for eight hours a day, but it’s also part of our responsibility to ensure that for the 16 hours that students are outside of school, they’re taken care of and supported.”

Every student arrives at school with “funds of knowledge,” a concept Aadland uses to describe the strengths students bring despite trauma, family dynamics, learning disabilities, or language barriers. “It is the job of a teacher to figure out what funds of knowledge a student does bring into the classroom,” Aadland says. It challenges the assumption that teachers can’t effectively support students who don’t speak English.

“When I’m providing strategies, sometimes, yes, they’re language-focused, but multilingual strategies are actually supporting all students in the classroom,” she says. “The strategies allow even mainstream English-speaking students a new way to grasp the content easier.”

Aadland’s “why”—students and what they deserve—fuels a remarkable passion to keep going. 

“Students deserve to have equitable education,” she says. “They deserve to have access to strong educators. They deserved to be supported in their educational process. If I can be a person who's able to help their teachers get to where they need to be, to support the people that are in their classroom, that's what I want to continue doing.”

Saying yes to giving back

Aadland’s impact continues to grow—reaching beyond her school and back into the Bethel community that helped shape her.

She recently returned to Bethel as a guest speaker at the Bethel Advance event, sharing her experience and insight with fellow educators. It was a full-circle moment: a graduate now pouring back into the same community that once poured into her—three times over.

“I’m honestly just really grateful for Bethel,” Aadland says. “They offer so many different programs, but they’ve also kept that foundation of faith. That’s really clear in everything they do—and that’s why I do what I do.”

For Aadland, saying yes has never been about having a perfect plan. It’s been about trusting where God is leading—and stepping forward, again and again.

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