The first day of school for Crookston High School students is Tuesday, September 3, and in talking with Principal Matt Torgerson, everything seems to be in order for the students to return. “It’s great, we have staff back in here, and so that’s always fun; I kind of over the summer forget what it’s like and maybe don’t always look forward to the beginning of the school year, like I didn’t get as much done as I wanted and then the staff comes in and it’s like, Oh yeah, this is what it’s all about, and when the students come in next week I expect to have that same feeling,” says Torgerson.
The addition of some new staff is adding to the excitement of the upcoming year. “We have some new staff here in the building, and they are bringing a lot of energy I’ve already seen in the last couple of days, and I’m really looking forward to this school year,” says Torgerson.
Change can be hard, and when asked if he anticipated any issues with the new Cell Phone Policy that was recently put into place, Principal Torgerson had this to say. “Honestly, I think if you were to ask the students themselves about their thoughts on cell phones, they would be pretty honest and say that they realize that there are issues, there are addictions, and I think as adults, we can make that same claim too.”
One study that Principal Torgerson says has been done about cell phone use has to do with how are brains are wired to something as simple as the vibration of our cell phones. “One of the most addictive sounds that has been studied is the vibration of a cell phone; we have rewired our brains, we’ve trained our brains, so we need to make sure that our students whose brains are still developing, that we are doing what’s best for them, whether they agree a hundred percent or not,” says Torgerson. Even so, he doesn’t believe there will be much of an issue. “I don’t foresee a lot of kickback. Obviously, not everyone is going to agree with it, but this is what we are going to do, and we are going try, and it’s really about what’s best for these kids,” added Torgerson.
When asked about the new Stadium and if there was hype around it being almost finished, Torgerson had this to say. “It’s pretty, it’s nice. Crookston is going to have something it can be really proud of, and again I know maybe not everyone agreed with the referendum to pass for that, but it is something that I know I have talked with the Superintendent and the Activities Director that we don’t want it to just be sports-focused, we really want to try to utilize it as much as possible, so, it’s not just our field, not just Crookston School Districts field, it should really be utilized by the community as well.”
Classes are back in session on Tuesday, September 3, and Principal Torgerson hopes kids are getting back into a routine and will show up Tuesday well-rested and ready to go.
