Brenda Rentmeester became a teacher because of her daughter.

When Caedyn was in elementary school, Rentmeester volunteered in her class a lot and loved it. 

She also wanted to help share her love of French with others. 

“I don’t know why I initially decided to take French over other languages in high school,” Rentmeester said. “I think it was just because it sounded so beautiful, and, of course, Paris!”

She knew she wanted to go to France someday and be able to understand the people there, but it was her first French teacher that made her fall in love with French. 

“She was just so amazing!”

After two years of French  at East High in Green Bay, Rentmeester had fallen in love with learning languages. 

She also took German and started learning Russian in college because she wanted a challenge. 

“It was so cool being able to read and write in a language that is so different from English. And believe it or not… it is quite a beautiful sounding language when spoken.”

Rentmeester started college at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,and finished her degree in French & International Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

She got her teaching certification at UWGB, and this is her sixth year teaching.

She chose Notre Dame because of its reputation as one of the best schools in the area, and her husband attended Premontre, one of the three schools that became NDA in 1990. 

She’s been teaching at Notre Dame for three years now. 

Rentmeester has been to France several times since her dream of learning French started, and she has a lot of really interesting travel stories. 

She obtained a sailing license in France after a week of classes, had a weird sense of knowing how to get around Paris without a map when she first arrived, and got engaged at the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

“My husband surpris[ed] me with strawberry tarts the last time we were in Paris…even though he couldn’t speak any French at all!” she said. 

Rentmeester also enjoys watching movies, participating in pinball tournaments, and playing fantasy football.