In Laura McKenna’s second-grade class at Concord’s Mill Brook School, her 16 students speak at least four different languages at home, from Kinyarwanda to French.

On Tuesday morning, following a meeting that involved freeze dance, high fives, and a recitation of favorite second-grade memories, students shared how to say hello in Tagalog, Spanish, and Arabic. Greetings in these languages and others adorn the upper-left corner of the front wall in McKenna’s classroom, a celebration of a community and a reflection of a level of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity uncommon in many parts of New Hampshire.

Kindergarten through second-grade Mill Brook and its third- through fifth-grade counterpart, Broken Ground, are the most racially and linguistically diverse schools in the Concord district. At Mill Brook, 15% of students are English language learners and 31% are students of color, according to data from the Department of Education.

“We talk about how different we are; we celebrate that every day,” said McKenna, who is wrapping up her 20th year teaching in Concord.

In February, McKenna learned that she had been nominated by Corinne Moher, a parent of one of her students, for New Hampshire’s Teacher of the Year award. Last month, following an application process and a luncheon during which the 76 applicants were questioned, McKenna was selected as one of 15 semifinalists for the honor, and the only one in the Concord area. The winner will be announced in the fall.

McKenna, a native and current resident of the Lake Sunapee region, knew from a young age that she wanted to work with kids. After a year teaching preschool in Massachusetts, she got a job at the now-defunct Eastman School in Concord in 2004 at the recommendation of a friend who taught in the district.

McKenna is known at Mill Brook for tailoring her classroom experience to the passions of her students.

“She really plays off of students’ interests and empowers them to know that their voice matters – even as seven- and eight-year-olds – that they can make changes and do things to impact the world,” Mill Brook Principal Katie Scarpati said.

Several years ago, McKenna started a school store, where students learn to use math and money denominations and at times contribute what they earn to an organization of their choice. Though the store has been on hiatus since the pandemic, McKenna hopes to get it up and running again soon.

McKenna is also an animal-lover – she owns two dogs, two cats, three bunnies, and a horse – which has played prominently in her classroom activities this year. A trip to the New Hampshire Audubon, where students got to handle a snake and a turtle, was a highlight for many students.

The snake was “squishy but scaley,” one student reported.

The highlight of the year for McKenna, however, was a little furrier. Working with a friend who runs a mini-donkey non-profit, she brought several donkeys to Mill Brook’s drop-off lane.

“She just is always coming up with these ways to create experiences for her class and just to really foster not only the academic stuff but all that other stuff about kids,” Scarpati said.

That expertise surrounding the “other stuff” is a major reason why Moher, a teacher herself in Pembroke, nominated McKenna. Over the course of the year, Moher’s son, Max, has shown great improvement in his sense of self, according to his mother.

“As a teacher, if you want a child to reach certain expectations, it can be very easy to be this constant source of criticism,” Moher said. However, McKenna is “not like that.”

“She’s clearly been pushing him, but also really making sure that she’s not always being negative,” said Moher, who described Max as having experienced a tremendous amount of social and emotional growth since last September.

Particularly since the pandemic, gaps in those skills have been as much a challenge as learning loss in math or reading.

“People probably don’t want to hear it, but that’s one of my biggest things I’m thinking about,” McKenna said. “Kids are coming to school needing more social skills, they need more problem-solving skills, and those are the trickier parts to teach.”

During a game of freeze dance Tuesday morning, the first student McKenna called out laughed and said, “Yeah, that’s fair,” as he fell to the ground. At the beginning of the year, he would have hidden and cried, McKenna said.

While she doesn’t like being the center of attention, McKenna appreciates the opportunity her semifinalist status affords her to correct what she feels are sometimes misconceptions about the scope of her job.

“My biggest thing is just bridging that gap between what society thinks and what is actually going on,” McKenna said. “. . . Sometimes I’m putting on band-aids, and other times kids just need a hug. I’m also trying to teach math. And build strong children.”

To fill all these roles simultaneously, McKenna focuses on and revels in the individual relationships she builds with each student.

“I like the different personalities, I like knowing who I can joke with, and who I need to be a little bit stronger with, and who needs a little pat on the back, or who needs me to just sit down with them and be like, ‘What’s going on?’ ” McKenna said.

This year has posed its challenges. Across the board, students have had “strong personalities that don’t always mesh and often clash,” McKenna said.

But, as a group of six students participated in what appeared to be a semi-coordinated routine during freeze dance on Tuesday, it was clear they had come a long way.

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.