“At the time I felt like I was hitting a brick wall on so many occasions,” Kathy Steinhoff said.

 Kathy Steinhoff conquers challenges as she pursues her goals of being a voice, and an advocate for others, and their issues.

It all started in St.Louis Missouri, Steinhoff’s home town. Ever since she was a little girl, Steinhoff had always wanted to be a teacher under her aunt’s influence.

“She was really the only woman in my life that had a job. My mom didn’t work, and I had other aunts and women in my neighborhood that I knew, but all of them stayed at home with their kids. She was my first exposure to a job,” Steinhoff said.

As a child, she would play teacher with her friends and siblings.

“My sister used to make fun of me all of the time because when she was out running around the neighborhood, I was always taking my pretend class on field trips, and I would embarrass her with the neighborhood friends,” Steinhoff said.

With the mindset of becoming a teacher as she got older, Steinhoff obtained a bachelor’s degree in math education, and a masters degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of Missouri. From then on she taught with Columbia Public Schools for the next 34 years .

 During her time at Hickman, Stienhoff developed valuable relationships and her peers looked up to her…something like that

“She was so innovative while also so helpful to me as a new teacher. I would strive everyday to “keep up” with her. I learned so much from her. It didn’t matter how long she had taught, she was always willing to try a new activity or a new strategy,” said Emily Augustine, a staff member at Hickman High School.

Steinhoff was also a part of an advocating group called CMNEA which was an advocate group that promoted, and protected public education, and supported staff and faculty so they can provide different learning opportunities for all students.

“I decided to go to one of their meetings, and it was very different for me because up to that time, all of the meetings that I ever went to had to do with school was talking about what was going on in our classroom, and this meeting was different because we were talking about what issues teachers in their lives that really was impacted by the fact that we were teachers,” Steinhoff said. 

Steinhoff didn’t discover this group herself. One of her colleagues, a teacher at Paxton Keeley Elementary School, Monica Miller, was the president of CMNEA at the time, and convinced her to join. She was surprised by her willingness to be as involved as she was.

“The next meeting, there she was. She said “Ok, you said, “Be involved, be active”, I’m ready to be a part of the solution.” And it’s been like that with her ever since. She was ready to step out. She was ready to come off of the roll of just being a name on a piece of paper, and being an activist,” said Miller

As Steinoff continued her journey with CMNEA, she began to help to advocate for other faculty and staff members.

“I was a part of the process where we started bargaining in Columbia Public Schools, and by the time I left, we had a multi page contract about rights that teachers have in the district and will have potentially forever,” Steinhoff said. 

After 34 years of teaching and advocating, Steinhoff was introduced to the idea of running for House of Representatives. At first though, she wasn’t one-hundred percent sure of that idea.

“I really didn’t know that much about the government, so the idea of being a legislator did seem really foreign to me, but the idea of advocating for people had become my second nature just because I had been president for CMNEA for so long.”

In January of that same year, it was required by law to redraw the boundaries of who can run in which city, and it turns out that her only opponent when was running for her seat was outside of the boundaries, so the idea was still being entertained.

“Then I slowly kept talking to people that I really trust, hoping somebody would talk me out of it, and I just got a lot of support from all of these different people, and I knew by the next week this is what I wanted to do. Their predictions were right. We hit social media really hard and I didn’t end up having an opponent.”

From then on, Steinhoff overcame many odds, and is now working as a Representative at the Capitol in Jefferson City

“It is really cool to have this experience. I mean just walking in that Capitol everyday, I have my own office, I have my own assistant, I have somebody who checks my emails and puts things on a calendar for me. Going from a teacher where you did everything and then some, to going down there and getting so much respect is such a different level than from where I came from.”

Being in the House of Representatives may sound fun, but it can get challenging for some individuals, especially when you are working with others who may not see eye to eye.

“It is hard to be in that super minority. If you have any good ideas, it’s really only going to go through Republicans, because they credit for it. Trying to find a way to make a place for yourself being effective down there, is a challenge.

Even though a lot of challenges come with her job, Steinhoff won’t stop until her ideals and goals are achieved.

“My biggest thing is to advocate, protect, and promote public schools and educators as much as I can. It’s going to be hard for me to get my own ideas through, but I can also try to defend [against] some of the bad things that are coming our way, and just try to be a voice of reason to people that are willing to listen and understand these situations.”