Badger welcomes two new teachers to its staff

Thanks to COVID-19, this 2020-21 school year brought its share of newness as students and staff members walked through the doors for the first time. It has also brought some newness unrelated to COVID in the form of teachers. This school year, Badger School welcomes two new teachers to its staff, including Patience Thompson and Andrea Hogenson. Both come to this district not too unfamiliar with the Badger School.

Here’s a brief look at the two new teachers.

Patience Thompson:
After graduating from Roseau High School in 2014, Thompson went to college at Minnesota State University, Moorhead (MSUM), but not for teaching. She would graduate from MSUM in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice. After this, she wasn’t sure what to do next.

She remembered that she had wanted to be a teacher in high school thanks to a past social studies teacher who she looked up to and inspired her. She then decided to get her substitute license and see where that path would take her.

“I remember one day sitting at the teacher’s desk, reading his notes, and feeling like everything just clicked into place – that this was what I wanted to do,” Thompson wrote. “I love learning and I love working with youth, so I hope I can show them how to love learning as well and that it can be fun too.”

Two years after MSUM, she would earn her Master’s degree in Education in December 2019 from North Dakota State University.

Thompson taught a few years as a substitute teacher and a couple as a long-term substitute before coming to Badger. In Badger, she will teach 7-12 grade social studies, including U.S. History, Geography, Civics, World Geography, American History, Economics, and World History.

She began substitute teaching in Fall 2017 at both the Roseau and Badger schools. Then, in Spring 2018, she served as a long-term substitute for a first grade teacher.

She would return to the Fargo-Moorhead area soon after that to continue pursuing her Master’s degree. During this time— the 2018-19 school year— she substituted at all the schools in Moorhead, including at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. In Fall 2019, she then student-taught high school social studies at the Badger School, and then, in Spring 2020, she served as a long-term substitute for a high school social studies teacher at the Roseau School.

Andrea Hogenson:
Like Thompson, Hogenson also is familiar with the Badger School, not as just a teacher but also as a student. She looks forward to working in a district that’s not just home, but also played a role in her career choice.

A 2014 Badger High School graduate, Hogenson pursued her post-secondary education at the University of North Dakota. In 2018, she graduated from there with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.

This will be year number one for her as the fifth grade teacher in Badger, but it will be year number three in her teaching career. Before coming to Badger, she would teach sixth grade in Roseau during the 2018-19 school year. Then, she served as a long-term substitute for both third and sixth grade in Badger during the 2019-20 school year.

She decided to go into teaching in part thanks to the experience she had as a student in Badger.

“I love our school’s atmosphere and energy. I had wonderful teachers all through my education experience who made me want to go into this profession,” Hogenson wrote, “Although I have no close relatives who are teachers by trade, I do have many who have instilled in me a love for education through skills taught outside of the school.”

To see the complete story on these teachers, read the September 23 issue of The Tribune in print or online.