New year, new faces

On Thursday, Aug. 22, students were once again filing into New Rockford-Sheyenne School, marking the end of summer break and the beginning of yet another year of learning.

In the coming days, many of those students will also be getting to know new teachers. NR-S has seven new teachers for the 2024-25 school year, and the Transcript recently spoke to them so that they could also be introduced to the community.

One of those teachers is Melody Volk, the district's new Business Education and CTE instructor. She'll be covering business fundamentals, multimedia, web design, financial literacy, desktop publishing and more. She'll also be the Yearbook Advisor.

Originally from New Rockford, Volk is married and has two children, Tyler and Jared, as well as six grandchildren.

She graduated from Devils Lake High School after attending school in New Rockford until the fifth grade. She later received a bachelor's degree from Valley City State University (VCSU) in 2014 and taught graphic design at Cankdeska Cikana Community College in Fort Totten.

Volk also holds a master's degree in communication, and she's excited to bring her experience to the students at New Rockford-Sheyenne.

When asked what she's looking forward to most about the coming school year, Volk said she's opening a new chapter in her life.

"I have only taught at the college level so high school is a new adventure," she said. "I am hoping to bring fun and adventure into each of my classes."

Another new teacher at NR-S this year is Diane Umali, who will be teaching kindergarten.

Umali is originally from the Philippines, and is the youngest of five siblings.

She graduated from the National Center for Teacher Education in the Philippines, as well as Philippine Normal University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education.

Her first year of teaching in North Dakota was last year in Edmore Public School.

"As [Edmore School] had its final year last school year, I looked for a school to teach and luckily NR-S was looking for a kindergarten teacher," said Umali. "As I start a new school year I am looking forward to getting to know the community, to making wonderful memories with my kindergartners and the whole NR-S community, and to add more firsts to my list."

Meanwhile, students at NR-S will also have two new music teachers this school year, one of which is Laurel Westby.

Westby will teach part-time elementary music education. She's a familiar face to many residents and students from Sheyenne, as well as some of the faculty at NR-S.

After graduating from Sheyenne High School, she earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from VCSU and a master's degree in education from Walden University.

She then taught at NR-S for seven years after the district's consolidation, before moving on to teach elementary education students at VCSU.

Now she's back, and she's excited about this new school year.

"I am looking forward to having fun in music class with singing, dancing, musical games and learning musical notes," she said. "I want the students to have a love of music."

Regarding her teaching philosophy, Westby said, "I believe if you have a positive attitude with a smile, you can form great relationships with the students and parents."

On that note, stay tuned for Part II of this teacher introduction series, which will be in next week's edition of the Transcript.