By Adam Johnson

NYM School Superintendent

Hello everyone! From all of us at New York Mills School, we are excited to welcome everyone back to the school for the 2025-26 school year. There are a few new things happening in the building.

We would like to invite everyone to our open house on Aug. 27 from 4-6 p.m. At the open house, food will be available for purchase from local vendors and you can take pictures with the Eagle mascot. The school buses will also be in front of the school so students will be able to meet their bus driver. The incoming freshman will have an orientation at 5:30 p.m. in the auditorium. After the open house, the Close-Up group will be hosting a Black Light Dance in the Activities Center for students in grades 5-8.

We have several new staff members that we are excited to welcome to the New York Mills School and the open house is a great way to meet teachers and staff. The first day of school is Sept. 2 and we are excited to see everyone.

Parents may pay fees in the district office or online through ParentVue. We have teamed up with SchoolPay to provide this opportunity. Another new thing for parents this year is Transfinder. More information on this will be coming soon, but will help provide updates on bus times. We also have an athletic trainer on campus through a partnership with Astera Health. They provide training services and will be on site for many of our games. Along with this, they will see students during practices to help with any injuries that may occur. We also have a brand new football scoreboard. This project was led by Tim Thiesen. Many local businesses sponsored the scoreboard and it looks amazing. Thank you to everyone who helped put this together. We have also updated the high school gym and lunchroom/commons with school colors. Our Facebook page, which is run by Connie Vandermay, is an excellent place to see updates on all school events and see what is happening in NYM Schools.

Fall sports are underway. cross country, football, tennis and volleyball are all ramping up for their season. By the time this is in the paper, cross country, tennis, and volleyball will have played their first game/meet. 

Cross country numbers continue to grow, with approximately 15 runners out. The home meet is scheduled for the Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. at Sonnenberg Farms. 

Football’s first game is the Aug. 28 as well at Belgrade-Brooten-Elrose, with their first home game on the Sept. 5. They currently have 33 players 9-12th grade. 

Tennis is cooped with Perham and had their first meet on Aug. 19. Aurora Jabas went 1-1 in singles, Lucy Wallgren and Bella Huwe went 2-0 in doubles and Hazel Dykhoff and Gjerde went 2-0 in doubles. The Perham/NYM tennis team went 2-0 on the day, beating Pequot Lakes 5-2 and Crosby-Ironton 6-1. 

Volleyball has great numbers out this year. Their first competition is on Aug. 26 in Frazee, with the first home match on Sept. 9. Thanks to all our coaches for their hard work and good luck to all the athletes in the upcoming season.

This year, we have a new Activities Director in Bryan Dunrud. Thank you to Matt Radniecki on his many years of being AD. We are sad to see him go, but we are excited to have Mr. Dunrud in this role. He has been updating the sports calendar with events, so make sure to follow that on our website (www.isd553.org). Our website also has constant updates on happenings around the school.

At NYM Schools, we have a lot of exciting and great things happening. This is because of many people. The New York Mills Community is an amazing place and has been extremely supportive of everything at the school. Everyone in the building, from our teachers to bus drivers to maintenance workers to kitchen workers to principals to secretaries, truly care for students and want them to be their best selves. 

On top of all this, the NYM students are awesome and as I enter my second year, I feel truly blessed and honored to be the superintendent for New York Mills Schools. 

Thank you for this opportunity and if you need anything, please reach out. Thank you and Go Eagles.