Williston High School had an opportunity to meet up with North Dakota State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler and Williston Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Thake on October 3, 2018, and I had the honor of interviewing them personally. This interview asks questions based off of Williston High School and their visit.

State Superintendent Baesler discussed her impressions of Williston and Williston High School. “I am very impressed with Williston High School. I’ve met students in the hall that have taken me on a tour of the building. I’m thrilled with the community pride, the school pride, the students, the sense of unity, and caring for not only Williston as a community, but for each other, as a student body — it’s truly impressive,” State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler stated.

In the interview, I asked Superintendent Baesler what she hopes to gain from her visit to our school. “What I want to learn from Williston High School leaders and students is what are we doing in education, in K12 education, in North Dakota that is going well and what we should continue to do, but also what isn’t going well,” replied the State Superintendent Baesler.

Williston Public School Superintendent Dr. Thake was also part of this school visit. When asked how this visit might impact students at Williston High School, Dr. Thake said, “When I was in a district in Illinois, our students said we want to work at our own pace, we want more technology, we want to be able to do projects, we want to be able to work with other people on projects, and we want to have an opportunity to do some things. Some examples are internships or job shadowing where we can try and determine whether or not this is something we want to do. We changed. All of a sudden it became just an amazing place to come when you came to school every day. We are going to do the exact same thing here with the student’s voice. I’m super excited about it.”

Our Williston High School is progressing in education and success, which includes technology. Dr. Thake is willing to making our school better with education by using technology and making great changes. Williston High School thanks Dr. Thake and the State Superintendent Kirsten Baesler for their time and participation of the interview.