Small School, Big Opportunities
By Michele Moquist
September 30, 2024
In most urban areas today, to have your child in a class of 15-20 students would cost over $12,000 a year. This cost would be to send your child to a private school, which typically has smaller student-to-teacher ratios. Most public schools across America today have close to thirty students per one teacher. However, in rural Northeast North Dakota, your child can enjoy a smaller class size in a public school. Consider Cavalier High School for example. Settled in the county seat for Pembina County, Cavalier High School graduates around thirty students per year. Most high school class periods have around fifteen to twenty students, an incredible student-to-teacher ratio that allows for stronger relationships, better knowledge of student understanding, and higher student engagement.
Rural area schools in Northeast North Dakota also have exciting opportunities to offer students. North Valley CTC, based in Grafton, has opened a new state of the art satellite location attached to Cavalier Public School. Although located in Cavalier, North Valley also partners with students and schools around Cavalier to give as many students as possible the opportunity to take Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes.
With a beautiful new building and four dynamic areas of study, rural students have the incredible opportunity of hands-on learning, real world applications, and workforce readiness. The new addition includes several dynamic classes such as Agriculture, Business/IT, Health Sciences, and Building Trades. Agriculture classes include Intro to AFNR (Agriculture Food Natural Resources), Ag Sales and Service/Ag Business Management, Botany/Horticulture, Vet Science, and 6th and 7th grade Agriculture. Business/IT classes include Financial Literacy, Accounting I and II, Intro to Cybersecurity, and 8th grade Cybersecurity. Health Sciences courses include Basic Patient Care (CNA) and Prevention & Care of Athletic Injuries. Building Trades classes are also being taught in association with the new CTE building.
The new North Valley building has four classrooms. The Health Sciences classroom has a full-scale hospital lab, including beds and a bathroom. The Business/IT classroom has new computer stations for students to use. The Agriculture classroom has a full commercial fridge and freezer, a concrete pad just outside to pull in a meat lab trailer for processing meats, and a greenhouse that is air-conditioned and heated. The fourth classroom is for the high school counselor’s office. Renovations to the existing Cavalier High School shop classroom included an updated garage door as well as a second entrance/exit garage door. A handicap-accessible ramp connects the North Valley building to the Cavalier Public School. The community of Cavalier pledged $2 million dollars towards the creation of the North Valley building attached to Cavalier Public School, showing the strong interest and advocacy for CTE classes to be taught in this local area.
An open house to celebrate the opening of this extraordinary opportunity for the next generation in education will be on Monday, September 30 from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm at Cavalier Public School, 300 Main St E, Cavalier, ND 58220. This event is open to the public and will include a lunch as well as a ribbon cutting to commemorate this monumental occasion. There is also another North Valley open house celebrating its Grafton expansion project on Monday, September 30 from 2:30-4:30 PM at the 1540 School Road in Grafton, use door 13.
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Read MoreAbout the Author
Full-time family manager and caregiver for her busy family of five young kids, Michele Moquist is thriving in growing Cavalier, North Dakota. She keeps her family active outside as well as with small town events and school activities. With an English Education background, Michele finds creative and meaningful ways to read and write still, including participating in two book clubs and writing for the Cavalier Chronicle and a marketing company based in Fargo. Michele is always up for trying a new North Dakota adventure, a cup of good coffee or wine, and savoring small town charm.
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