I have officially served as Minot AFB’s School Liaison Program Manager for one year. There were a number of unique challenges (Government Shutdowns and MFLC contract changeover) and new laws/procedures (K-12 phone-free legislation and on-base school am/pm supervision). I jumped into a changing landscape, which involved processing overdue STARBASE ND payments, and closing out the old bus contract for a new 5-year bus contract.
When the government shut down, I was “excepted” and worked without pay for weeks. Despite this situation, I kept students fed working with Minot Public Schools and Backpack Buddies, kept our community informed of valuable counseling resources and shutdown effects: Mission: Transition Workshop delay and STARBASE ND operating tempo adjustment from 5-days to 3-days, and kept a smile on my face! The shutdown also caused the cancellation of the annual MIC3 Business Meeting TDY in Indiana, and subsequent pivot to an online ND State of Education briefing, which remains a critical readiness tool that empowers School Liaisons, Command Teams, and senior leaders to proactively address education concerns for military-connected students. I successfully transformed local experiences into enterprise-wide understanding and strategic action—ensuring education remains a supported pillar of the Total Force Quality of Life framework.
This year also welcomed new staff in new roles: 5th MSG Commander, Yellowfin Bus Manager, Summer Military & Family Life Counselor (MFLC), Fall MFLC, ND Superintendent of Public Instruction, and turnover/reassignments in CYP…to name a few. From the very beginning, I stood impressed by Col Zeigler’s impactful speech to all Minot Public School’ educators at the beginning of the 2025/2026 School Year, sharing his personal connection to STEAM via his own children’s school experiences and subsequent career choices. A strong advocate for quality education, Col Zeigler immediately established six-week meetings to stay informed of all School Liaison Program happenings; assisted in the election of a new MAFB School Board Member; setup and attended my School Busing Town HaIl, Back-to-School event, and Healthy Harvest event; and has already saved-the-date to bestow Purple Graduation Cords on May 13th to our local military-connected students in honor of their sacrifice.
Throughout all changes above—easily navigated with an invested leader and his beautiful, helpful wife—I was able to improve processes, data collection, and information dissemination. Some standout School Liaison Program improvements: Records Management System clean-up (adding 52 new schools to my local footprint), School Liaison website clean-up (deleting outdated documents from as far back as 2018), School Liaison section in the MAFB Leadership Resource Guide, School Liaison’ Education section in the new Five and Thrive Minot resource initiative with the Minot Area Chamber EDC, School Liaison MFLC Orientation implementation, Data Warehouse access, and base-wide quarterly MFLC contact information dissemination. The effect of these improvements will be felt for years to come.
Also new this year: Pre-K Legendary Learners book dissemination to base-wide and in town schools/libraries/centers to ensure our military-connected students thrive in early literacy despite no universal PreK offered in our state, engaging School Liaison’ Right Start briefings to new civilian and military members, and new and improved military family events: Back-to-School brigade with nine new organizations and 25% increase in backpacks, Healthy Harvest bowling/Operation Homefront gift card event with 42% increase in funding, monthly “Conversations with the Mayor” at North Plains Elementary School, monthly MFLC Lunch n’ Learn parent sessions, and this week’s first ever Mission: Transition – Managing Stress Together family workshop.
Not to mention, this year’s new implementation of the following youth sponsorship opportunities: Anchored4Life at Erik Ramstad Middle School (the first school in North Dakota with this program) and -soon- the School-Age-Care Program at the Youth Center (the second program in North Dakota; the first is the SAC Program at Grand Forks AFB), and coaching—with my excellent co-coach Ms. Meghan Langan—a FIRST Lego League Robotics Team at Minot AFB via Full STEAM Ahead, scoring 6th place out of 21.
Additionally, through successful School Liaison and Superintendent/Principal collaboration on criteria-implementation, we now have two new Purple Star schools (the first schools in North Dakota to achieve this recognition outside of Minot AFB): Glenburn Public School and Erik Ramstad Middle School. The ceremonies for these military-friendly schools will commence in the near future.
Throughout this year, I also had personal feats to reach: I scored 95% on the mandated new employee School Liaison course in April, and 100% on both the Department of the Air Force Emerging Leader Course in August and the DAF Unannounced Higher Headquarters program inspection in December. I also sought after and secured School Liaison involvement in two North Dakota opportunities for which to advocate for military-connected students: PreK-12 Education Steering Committee Member and ND State Literacy Team Member.
Yet there was fun to be had when I met a famous rodeo clown, a Polar Express conductor, and a Theodore Roosevelt Impersonator! I also enjoyed speaking in length with my comptroller on noise-cancelling cat earmuffs, engaging with two homeschool groups devoted to sensory and science experiments, and learning that K-9 dogs actually listen to classical music to calm down. Dressing up as a lasagna and calling-in an emergency situation involving a loose dakrat in my office building were…interesting. These special moments cannot be replicated and truly showcase some of the weird fun that contributed to one memorable year!
My 5th FSS Leadership—Lt Col Bold, Ms. Becker, and Mr. Balas—set standards, encouraged best practices, and educated me; along with our 5th MSG Deputy Director, Mr. Bartholomew, School Liaison Division Chief, Ms. Phipps, and Regional Directors, Ms. Goodier and Ms. Allen. These people prepped, scolded, guided, and led me to all that was eventually accomplished this year. Thank you!
As I start my next year, I look forward to sowing what I’ve reaped – attending my first state meetings as a committee/team member to share advocacy initiatives, repeating new events/processes with the goal of continuously improving them, and overseeing the new Anchored4Life programs in our area. I also wish to grow all relationships, especially with our PSMI School Principals and homeschool community.
At a MPS School Board Meeting in January, Mr. Erin Raab—Vital Network Presentation Rep— stated administrative staff are most impactful in their fifth year. Along these same lines, I argue that motivated government employees are most impactful in their first year if they’re beneficially situated within a strong Great American Defense Community among leaders—Col Jesse Lamarand and Mrs. Nathalie Lamarand, as well as, Col Jimmy Schlabach and Mrs. Monica Schlabach—exemplifying excellence!
Lastly, thank you to all the amazing base and community members I’ve met over lunch, training educators, in competitions, at events, and on committees! I look forward to our continued student-focused partnerships and hope to unfailingly connect with a shared sense of purpose and usefulness. I also cannot wait to meet others with the sincere promise that I will always strive to “leave with a friend” (famously spoken by Minot Mayor, Mark Jantzer).
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