Alumnus Kristine Luebbe chose university for bachelor’s and master’s in education due to outstanding education offerings and strong faith focus

After she graduated from high school, Kristine Elise (Roit) Luebbe CO ’07 GR ’11 wanted to spread her wings and get away from home. However, after a few years away, she was drawn to Concordia Nebraska’s education program.  

“I visited the campus and fell in love with some of the professors before transferring to finish out my bachelor’s degree,” she explained. “Upon completion of my bachelor’s degree, I came back to Concordia University to complete my master’s degree. I appreciated the format with both online courses and summer in-person learning alongside a cohort of colleagues that I am still in touch with as we all furthered our educations and careers.” 

Luebbe has a bachelor of science in elementary education with an early childhood endorsement and a master of education in early childhood education. She said she has many fond memories of her time at the university, but one of her favorite things about her Concordia experience is how interwoven Concordia is with the community of Seward.  

Professors at the university were instrumental in helping Luebbe discover her purpose, she said. 

“The professors’ passion for learning as well as belief in us as students was very inspiring,” she explained. “I’m still shocked that years later, when I see some of the professors, they remember me, and I respect them not only as educators, but as members of the Seward community. I think their modeling of being a caring person first before their role as an educator is still something that is evident and something I try to emulate.” 

Her early childhood coursework offered Luebbe meaningful experiences both planning for and teaching in the classroom to prepare her for her first day on the job.  

“As I reflect, some of the specific courses about servant leadership help to ground both the work I do in my career and in my life,” she said. “I was offered a position at my student teaching location, which was a huge relief when graduating mid-semester. From there, I continued teaching in early childhood education, including within private childcare, and public school preschool through first grade positions before moving to the Nebraska Department of Education to serve as an education specialist in the office of early childhood. In that role, I supported early childhood educators and school district administrators across the state with technical assistance to support their prekindergarten programs to support program quality through professional development and conversations. I was promoted to director of programs and partnerships, to lead a team that now provides technical assistance and monitoring to school district operated prekindergarten programs in the state as well as provide support for school district and Head Start collaboration within local programs.” 

In addition to preparing her for the workplace, Luebbe said her time at the university also impacted her faith. 

“I appreciated the Old and New Testament courses more as an adult, as they helped me better understand the magnitude of God’s love for us,” she said. 

In her current role, Luebbe said she and her team have worked to move beyond monitoring of regulations to supporting increased efforts at providing high quality early childhood experiences within classrooms across the state.  

“This allows the amazing team that I work with to go beyond a checklist, and have conversations with teachers, and leaders to hear about the great things that are occurring within early childhood programs across the state and use those conversations to create goals for continuous improvement within their building/district. At a state-level, we work to provide additional opportunities to support educators and administrators of early childhood programs to be able to best meet the needs of the children in their program as well as their families,” she explained. 

On a day-to-day basis, Luebbe meets with elementary principals and early childhood coordinators to understand the needs of their early childhood program and direct them towards resources to support children and families. She also works with the other Department of Education teams to ensure that early childhood knowledge is connected to both content specialists and federal program requirements within the state as well as external agencies to better understand the partnerships that are necessary to support children and their families both in and out of the classroom. She also regularly attends webinars and conferences to learn from national experts on exciting research occurring in early childhood to brainstorm how these can be incorporated within Nebraska’s early childhood programs. 

“I appreciate having conversations and learning more from other education leaders in the field. Similarly to the feeling of when a student understands a lesson, helping administrators see the benefits of high quality early childhood education, both short- and long-term, is very rewarding,” she said. “The relationships built with school district staff as early childhood programs begin, the excitement of educators who feel heard, and the opportunities to support early childhood education in Nebraska are very fulfilling.” 

Luebbe has been married to her husband, Brandon for more than 15 years, and they live near their family’s farm, raising corn, soybeans and cattle. They have three children, Tinley (13), Grady (8) and Kagney (4). Luebbe enjoys baking, singing, reading and seeing her kids excel in their interest areas including showing cattle, volleyball, football and 4H. She also teaches Sunday School and serves as a member of the St. John’s Lutheran Church education board. 

Are you interested in learning more about Concordia Nebraska’s education program? Discover more here.