Title Page & Abstract
An Interview with Sara Sielaff
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project
Interview # T20-A-L-2021-029
Sara Sielaff, Assistant Principal and preschool teacher at Zion Lutheran School, Lincoln, Illinois, was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project.
Interview date & location:
Date: July 29, 2021 Location: Zion Lutheran School, Lincoln, Illinois
Interview Format: Digital audio
Interviewer: Anna Sielaff
Total Time: 1:07 / 1.12 hrs.
Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on September 21, 2021.
The interview is archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.
© 2021 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Abstract
Sara Sielaff, Tumultuous 2020, T20-A-L-2021-029
Biographical Information/Overview of Interview: Sara Sielaff was born in December 1962, in Newton, Iowa. She graduated from Concordia University Chicago, majoring in Lutheran Elementary Education. She has been a teacher for thirty-one years at a variety of Lutheran schools.
Sara has served as a preschool teacher at Zion Lutheran School (ZLS) in Lincoln, Illinois, for 24 years. She became vice-principal during the Covid-19 pandemic. After the initial lock-down period directed by Governor J.B. Pritzker during the spring of 2020, ZLS was one of the only schools in Lincoln that returned to full-time and in-person classes all year, while only having three positive cases in their student body. Being a small Lutheran school, the teachers and students had no online option during lockdown. Sielaff discusses the pivots the school made as well as what differentiated them from other schools. Students attended classes while being masked.
Subject Headings/Key Words: COVID-19 pandemic; Zion Lutheran School (ZLS), Lincoln, Illinois; teaching during the pandemic; Concordia University Chicago.
Notes to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.
COPYRIGHT
The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955