Telling Our Story, the Student Experience

At Willmar Public Schools (WPS) we are proud of the work our staff does each and every day to provide a positive learning experience for our students. Just like every school district across the country, we have things to improve on. What I think separates WPS from some districts is our staff members' commitment to the continuous improvement of the learning environment.

Unfortunately, there are narratives in the community and region that WPS does not provide a rigorous educational program in a safe and welcoming learning environment. This narrative is far from true. Over my career, I've had the experience of working in different school districts. Each district had great strengths and areas of opportunity.

One of Willmar's greatest strengths is the welcoming environment all students experience when entering our schoolhouse gate. In an effort to tell the WPS story, our district embarked on the creation of videos that would highlight student, staff, teacher, and parent experiences in our school district. It is our hope that these videos will communicate the "real" experiences of each group in our organization. Please enjoy this first video, Telling Our Story, the Student Experience!

Stay tuned for our next story! 🎥 🎞 😃 👍

Thumbs Up to this Story

At the 2022 Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) Superintendent's Conference entitled Living our Purpose, we had a pretty special person deliver the keynote. That person was Joe Schmitt of KSTP. Some folks probably jump to a judgment that he’s just another sports reporter too cool for the common folk. Some of us may believe that he is a sports reporter that doesn’t tell stories until breaking news is uncovered and he jumps at the opportunity at the expense of someone else. What I learned at the conference was that Joe Schmidt is like all of us, a human being loved by his family and returns that love daily. On top of that, this gentleman has a huge heart for all people.

Joe Schmitt is a dynamic speaker and certainly has access to top-profile athletes and coaches. However, that is what Joe does, it isn’t who he is. Joe is a human being who loves others and functions within our world just like the rest of us. In his keynote address, he highlighted his vulnerabilities. The world is much more full of good stories and good people than some of us believe. Mr. Schmitt shared a great story about Joe Mauer and the positive impact and impression he left on a classmate years ago. That impact is still felt today. Now, take the time to watch this story below.

What can we learn from this? Every action we take has an impact today, tomorrow, and long into the future. Each decision we make on a daily basis and our actions can improve our world locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Thumbs up to this story! Oh, and Joe Mauer is quite the guy!