Whether on the ice or in the classroom, alumnus enjoys working with students

Jon Ammerman wants to set his students and student athletes up for success.

The St. Cloud State University alumnus comes from a long line of educators, and said his own drive to teach and coach was inspired by the role models he had growing up.

“Your role models and your examples and your mentors are the people you interact with. My mom as a special education teacher was one of those people. Growing up as a kid who was active and in a lot of different activities, your coaches and your teachers are your direct mentors because they have such a big impact on you. That was one thing that drew me to teaching and coaching, is I know how important those people were in my life,” he said. “I know there's good, bad and in between, but every person I had in the classroom or in activities had a positive impact in some way. My dad was also a social worker and specifically in child protective services, and was also a youth hockey coach and heavily involved in Moorhead youth hockey. Our family was heavily involved in kids being successful; that was important to my parents. And I would imagine that rubbed off on me in some way.”

After graduating from Moorhead High School, Ammerman spent a year playing in the United States Hockey League before starting his collegiate career at St. Cloud State. He enrolled in the education program right away while playing hockey. Approaching his senior year, he knew he wouldn’t be able to both play hockey and student-teach. Ammerman opted to earn his political science degree first, and came back an additional year to finish out his student teaching and earn an additional degree in social studies education.

Following graduation in 2011, he started teaching and coaching boys’ hockey for Windom High School. He was there for a few years before moving back to his hometown of Moorhead, Minnesota. Ammerman joined his alma mater first as a teacher and then soon after was named the head boys’ hockey coach as well. In addition to his work through the high school, he also co-owns Blueline Hockey School — an annual summer youth hockey camp.

“I enjoy being back home. I enjoy being a part of a program that meant a lot to me and I enjoy working with the people in Moorhead, especially Moorhead youth hockey. We have a very strong youth hockey program and we're really lucky to have the people in place that we do in our school,” he said. “I mean, this isn't just about hockey, right? Our school is great. Our district has a lot of opportunities for kids. It's a large school district, but kind of a small-town feel. People are very passionate about being a Spud and our community really supports schools.”

Over his 13 years working in Moorhead, Ammerman has taught “pretty close to everything,” from world and United States history to Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) courses.

“I like seeing kids have success. I like seeing kids work through adversity and become successful. I think the most rewarding thing in teaching is — now being in it for a while — you see kids become adults, and their successes. There's not immediate feedback in it a lot of the time,” he said. “I still have relationships with people in Windom, there are some of my former players and students who reach out or some of the people I met there. And the same is true in Moorhead — I run into them around the community. Now I have some of my former players who have kids in youth hockey and seeing them coach. It’s a profession that is tough, but it's also very rewarding.

“I think the biggest thing is helping kids develop the skills that will be needed outside of the classroom. Communication skills, working through adversity — maybe it sounds cliche, but giving kids those soft skills and career-type skills that will help them navigate life after school. High school athletics can sometimes get a little goofy in terms of outside expectations on winning and success, but really the success is seeing kids become young adults. We have everywhere from kids playing in the NHL to being teachers and doctors and lawyers and electricians. Just being able to touch base with them and seeing their success is really fun.”

Ammerman has coached the Moorhead Spuds boys’ hockey team to not only its first state championship, but back-to-back state championships for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons.

“That was the last box to check in terms of our program. We've had Olympians, we've had NHL All Stars, we've had Division I college players, we've had national champions at the Division I level, but we did not as a program have a state championship,” he said. “Things have to work out — bounces and timely goals, all those things. It's worked out the last two years. We've had great kids. They've been really fun to work with and it's been really fun to see them finally break through.”

Ammerman appreciates the foundation Moorhead High School as well as SCSU provided him so he could grow as a teacher and coach throughout his career.

“St. Cloud State was a part of my life that I really enjoyed and enjoy looking back on. It was a great place for me and my teammates to not only grow as hockey players, but more importantly, grow as people,” he said. “There's still a ton of connection to the community. It was a great place to learn to be a teacher, and I'm thankful for having gone to school there.”