Winter break draws near for New York Mills School students
Published on December 16, 2025 at 3:39pm GMT+0000 | Author: Tucker Henderson
0By Adam Johnson
NYM School Superintendent
On behalf of everyone at New York Mills School, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The winter weather has already had an impact on the school year. When weather poses a threat, there are a lot of discussions that happen about when a storm might hit, how transportation is impacted, and what is most safe. Safety comes first and there are a lot of factors that impact the decision. Between school alert messages, school website, Facebook, and local news, radio and television stations, we do our best to inform everyone as early as possible if there is a change that has to happen. This winter seems to be very active and we will do our absolute best with decisions.
Our Truth in Taxation presentation took place on December 15. The information is on our website. The levy for the school saw a decrease this year for members of the school district.
New York Mills student’s MCA test scores continue to improve year over year. In the elementary, math test scores increased to 66.9 percent of students that meet or exceed the standards. For reading, 60.5 percent of students meet or exceed the standards. At the high school, math test scores were 63.1 percent and for reading, 57.1 percent. All four of these areas improved year over year. The state average this year for math was 45.2 percent and for reading was 49.6 percent. This shows many things.
First, how great our students are. They work and do their absolute best to continue to improve.
Secondly, the impact our staff has on our students. The NYM staff truly cares and wants what is best for all students.
Finally, how great our families and community supports the school, our staff, and our students. This is just one measure to show how great NYM Schools are!
Holiday concerts are underway. On Monday, Dec. 8, the K-3 concert took place. Ms. Peterson and the students did an awesome job to celebrate the season. On Friday, Dec. 12, the 7-12 band and choir concert took place. Mr. Armagost, Ms. Peterson, and the students again did an awesome job. On Tuesday, Dec. 16, the 4-6 concert took place and even though I have to write this early, I have full confidence in our students that it again went awesome. On January 21 (Monday/Wednesday Group) and January 22 (Tuesday/Thursday Group), the PreK will put on their winter performance at 2:30 p.m., so come and check that out.
Winter activities are underway as well. A new activity that has grown this year was girls wrestling. Head coach Dustin Geiser and assistant coach Katie Geiser have helped grow this program to run alongside our boys wrestling program. We currently have 11 girls wrestling 7-12 and will continue to grow over the next few years. Along with good numbers, the team has been successful, with all wrestlers placing in the top four at the Wadena tournament on December 6.
The boys wrestling team has been successful this year, too. The season started with a close dual to Border West, before a successful dual tournament in North Dakota this past weekend. There have been many standout individual performances. Check out wrestling this week with wrestling meets on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 1:30 p.m. against WDC and then a quad at 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 19, both in New York Mills.
Girls basketball is currently sitting at 2-1, after victories over Verndale and Sebeka. They have plenty of home games coming up after Christmas Break. Currently, from January 26 to February 20, the girls basketball team will only be on the road one time during that stretch.
Boys basketball is currently sitting at 2-0, after victories over Verndale and Wadena-Deer Creek. The boys are at home on December 18 and then from January 29 to February 27, are only on the road three times in that stretch, so plenty of home games to come and support the Eagles.
Lego League is in Bemidji on December 12 for their competition. As of writing this, the team performed very well. They were sitting at third in team and fourth in coding.
Knowledge Bowl has had a great start as well, with plenty of competitions and even a few event wins.
FFA is underway as well, with the Nursery/Landscaping team coming in first overall. Isaac Geiser was first individually, with Aubree Salo in second. Farm Business Management finished second place, with Eli Aho finishing second overall. The Dairy Cattle Evaluation team earned third, with Makya Oehrtein finishing third individually.
The school district is also working with ICS on a potential building remodel. We are in the very early stages of this and as we get closer, we will make sure to share all plans with the public as we go. Thanks to everyone that has given their input and time on this potential project.
For winter break, the last day for students is December 19. Students will return on January 5, so there will be two full weeks of winter break for all students. We wish everyone a great break. Go Eagles!