Byron Borgen Loves The Kids
Dr. Steve Young, Principal at Memorial Junior High, called all students to an assembly on Friday, September 27th to allow officials from Minot State University to recognize one of their graduates who had recently been awarded the CTE Teacher Of The Year in North Dakota. The recipient would be announced as Byron Borgen, and the award celebration was indeed a surprise.
Byron has been at Memorial Junior High for 8 years. This year he also teaches CTE at Minot North. It was 1997 when Byron graduated from Minot State University and began his teaching career at Surrey. “I took a sabbatical from teaching and tried a couple of options like running a business. I found out my heart wasn’t in it.”
There were other steps that Byron took in life, including adopting 5 kids. “When my youngest got old enough to go to school I came back to teaching.”
The average class size for CTE is between 14 and 20 at Memorial, and around 16 to 20 in his class at Minot North.
As far as CTE “it’s really taken a turn towards the technical. It’s almost applied physics with a lot of math and a lot of science. Today it’s an engineering world” according to Boren “the engineering process is so great because you get to try it and fail, or hopefully you eventually you learn from failing how to succeed.”
Byron said that they start with basics “like learning the difference between a nut and a bolt, a hammer and a screwdriver which is super exciting. The world they are growing up in is different. Right now, the world is desperate for workers. We need plumbers and electricians and engineers. We’re going to be even more desperate for them (plumbers, electricians, and engineers) in another 10 years.” Byron hopes that some of his kids will take that path. “Hopefully we can raise a generation that can fill that void.” Byron is originally from Minot, and his Dad was a principal at Dakota.
Acknowledging Byron’s accomplishment was Dr. Steven Shirley, President, Minot State University, Rick Hedberg, Vice President for Advancement and Courtney Brekhus, Director of Alumni Engagement.
