Hello, I'm Mike.
I have called Crookston home since my family moved here from Renton, Washington when I was 7 years old. I am 54 years old, I've been married to my wife, Michelle, for 27 years, and we have two sons, Ethan, 25, and Trey, 22. Michelle has been at the University of Minnesota Crookston for 24 years, serving in a variety of leadership roles, and is currently the director of Outreach and Engagement. Ethan is an admissions counselor at the U of M Crookston, and Trey is a business associate with First Community Credit Union in Grand Forks.
MY STORY
I spent the bulk of my professional career at the Crookston Times newspaper as a reporter. I was there from 1994 to 2001, and then spent a couple of years at the University of Minnesota Crookston in their service learning program, and I also was a teaching specialist there.
In 2004, I returned to the Crookston Times and led the newsroom as managing editor until the summer of 2021, when I resigned due to what I viewed as a growing disconnect between corporate-owned media and the critical importance of small-town journalism. I then pursued a substitute teaching license and was hired as a short-call substitute teacher in several area school districts, before accepting an offer in October 2021 from ISD 600 in Fisher to be their full-time contracted substitute, teaching pre-K to 12th grade. I was then asked by ISD 600 to secure a Tier 1 teaching license in Communication, Arts and Literature (grades 5-12) from the Minnesota Department of Education so I could teach 7th-12th grade English in 2022-23 while the regular English teacher was on leave.
In October 2023, I returned to my current role as Fisher Public School's full-time substitute teacher.
CONTACT ME
I'm always looking to connect with people around the district! Get in touch.