POWER — Nichole Pieper will be the new superintendent for Power Public Schools, as the district kicks off their first week of school.
Pieper is familiar with rural education, previously serving as the principal in the town of Cascade. She earned her teaching degree from Montana State University in Bozeman, and then made her way to Alaska at Fort Richardson Army Base for 11 years.
"I just found that I really liked working with adults as well as working with kids, so administration seemed to be the next step for me" she said.
Pieper said that her boss from Cascade Public Schools, Rick Miller, encouraged her to jump into the superintendency; Miller was a former teacher at Power.
Pieper explained, "The position became available last December, and my boss at Cascade Public Schools, he was a teacher here ... After he talked to me about looking into the job, and looking into the community, he told me that I would not regret it for a minute and that the Power community is extremely supportive, and a wonderful group of people, and a great place to work."
The school district reported a big jump in attendance for the academic year.
“We’re really excited about this increase," Pieper said. "We’re up to 122 students already and I expect that our population will continue to grow. The biggest obstacle that we have is finding housing out in Power for everybody to come to because we have people wanting to attend our school from the surrounding area, so that’s just exciting that there’s so much support for Power Public Schools, and we’re just looking forward to serving more and more students.”
Power, which is about 25 miles northwest of Great Falls, has a new slogan, "Small School, Big Education," and Pieper discussed what makes rural education so unique.
“The rural community just really wraps around every single kid here," Pieper explained. "My kids go to a rural school, and I would not have it any other way. We provide such a unique learning experience for kids. Every teacher knows every single kid, and we’ve got so many mentoring opportunities between our students. That just really gives those younger kids those role models that you don’t get in a larger school district, so go rural education.”
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