Maxine Peterson joined the Division of College and Career Success at the Minnesota Department of Education in August of 2015.  She works for the unit of Career and Technical Education as the Family and Consumer Science Education Specialist (FCS), bringing her dedication for growth and change by providing leadership and training to over 543 secondary FACS teachers statewide. Focus is on career pathways in culinary/hospitality, early childhood education and education and training as high need and high outlook pathways. Please contact her if you would like more information on any of these career pathways. Prior to joining MDE, Maxine had been a FCS teacher for 30 years in the Centennial and Mounds View School Districts in the areas of high school, middle school, and alternative learning. She is a native of Colorado and graduated from Colorado State University with a BS degree and taught five years in Colorado before moving to Minnesota.  She has her Master Degree in Teaching and Learning from St. Mary’s.

Maxine was the 2006 FACS Teacher of the Year, and the AAFCS 2006 Top Teacher in the Nation.  In addition, Maxine has consulted and presented as a keynote and breakout speaker at national, state, regional, and local conferences through her business MAXimum Education Innovations.  Her presentations include Best Practice Teaching: Strategies to Engage and Motivate Students to Learn, The Brain and Learning, Financial Literacy is needed by ALL!, Advocacy: Supporting FACS Programs, Reading Strategies to Improve Student Learning and STEM: FCS has been doing it for years, and many more. 

Furthermore, Max is the author of Senior Strategies: Preparing Students for Post-secondary Success, published through Learning ZoneXpress and in over 500 high schools nationwide.  It is a comprehensive program designed to prepare students for transitioning successfully to college and lowering their student loan debt by educating students about career preparation skills, financial aid, organization, time management, study skills, budgeting and financial literacy.

She has and always will be a very vocal advocate for Career and Technical Education for high job outlook, high skill, or high wage jobs for our students.  She and her husband Wayne reside in East Bethel, MN in the fourth home they have built on their own, using their CTE backgrounds and talents. They are currently building a cabin in the north woods of Chippewa National Forest on Grave Lake.