Four new teachers at New Rockford-Sheyenne Public School

The kids are finally back to school, and a few new faces were there to greet them when classes began on Tuesday.

Matt Shaffer, Jake Bilden, Julie Westrick and Kendall Myers got to meet their first students at the New Rockford-Sheyenne Public School during back-to-school night on Tuesday, and each expressed their excitement for the coming school year.

Julie Westrick, a recent graduate of Valley City State University, will be teaching history to middle schoolers this year. Westrick worked in the Fargo public schools for 17 years as a library assistant, but decided to change career paths and become a teacher.  

"I think being in the school I just saw what the other teachers were doing, and I thought 'you know what, I need to do that'," said Westrick.

When asked what she's looking forward to about her first full-time teaching job, Westrick said, "I get really excited about history ... I love getting the kids to understand that all these things we study in history have a purpose because you can connect it to something that's happening right now. There's a reason why we study history, it's not all just memorizing dates."

Matt Shaffer, the new social studies teacher for high schoolers, also came to New Rockford after changing career paths. "I wasn't a teacher before this, but I worked for Sanford Health as the courier dispatcher for half the week. It was a very high risk and high stress job," said Shaffer.

Shaffer graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead last spring and is looking forward to teaching his new students.

"It's very rewarding to help the future generations. If I can teach them how to critically think it would probably better our country eventually. I do expect that a few of the students that I teach here will get somewhere pretty high up in life."

Also joining the high school staff is Jake Bilden, who will be teaching math and coaching junior high football this year. Bilden is local to the region and has always admired the New Rockford-Sheyenne school system, "I've always known the history of [New Rockford] ... we played them in sports in years past and you always hear what a good athletic program they have, what a good school they have. They're always on the lookout for new technology and newer ways to promote 21st century learning."

Sports and mathematics have always been passions for Bilden, and after trying accounting and finance at the University of North Dakota, he transferred to Mayville State University where he graduated with degrees in math and physical education.

"What you do in the classroom relates to the field, and the things you see on the field can relate to the classroom, so they go very hand and hand. It wasn't a surprise when I knew I was going into teaching that I would also go into coaching," he said.

Kendall Myers, also a graduate of Mayville State, will be teaching kindergarten this year. Myers has experience subbing full-time and teaching head start in Devils Lake, a program for children in low-income families. As Myers explained, teaching children is her dream job, "That's my energetic level, so I've always wanted to be a kindergarten teacher ... this is where I was meant to be."

As a former resident of Munich, N.D., Myers has been familiar with New Rockford for years, dating back to her days competing against the Rockets in basketball. When asked why she became a teacher, Myers thought back to someone who inspired her, "My teacher in fourth grade. I didn't have very good teachers to start, and they didn't have any faith in me," explained Myers. "But I got to fourth grade and I had a teacher that had faith in me, and she made me believe I was smart, she made me feel good, she made me excited for school and I wanted to be just like her."

After two consecutive school years disrupted by COVID-19, the overarching feeling among every teacher is the desire to have a "normal" year. As Shaffer put it, "finally being able to see the joy on a students face when he or she connects with a concept, and really just being able to help kids, that's the big thing."