Even though they deserve to be celebrated and honored every day for their dedication and hard work toward the betterment of the students and staff in the community, one day a year there is a formal celebration for school principals. National School Principal Day falls on May 1st of each year and was founded by Janet Dellaria of Michigan. This is a day when principals are recognized and celebrated for all that they do for their schools, staff and students. Principals have an important job; they set the academic tone in how they interact with their staff and students and how they encourage their students to succeed. Principals implement their vision through dedication and determination to provide an environment that is successful and positive for both students and teachers. This Wednesday, May 1st, 2024, it is time to celebrate the wonderful principals of Andes Central, Clint Nelson and Christopher Derry.

Clint Nelson

Clint Nelson is the pre-kindergarten through fifth grade principal and assists with elementary guidance. He has been in this position for almost a year. As a pre-k and elementary principal, Clint’s duties include giving support to teachers and students to provide a relevant and rewarding learning experience; and provide opportunities for students to be the very best person they can be. One unique part of Clint’s job is that he also provides guidance lessons for grades kindergarten through fifth.

Clint enjoys working for the Andes Central School District because he is fortunate enough to work with a great group of staff. He has enjoyed getting to know all the kids and building positive relationships with them. One of Clint’s other roles at the school is that he also drives the school bus. Career wise, Clint started out as a social studies teacher and head football coach before becoming a seventh through twelfth grade principal. He then became a school superintendent/ elementary school principal at Mt. Vernon. Clint wanted to be a principal because he wanted the opportunity to work with teachers and students to provide leadership that creates rewarding lifetime learning experiences.

The best part of being a principal for Clint is the kids. The most challenging part of his job as principal would be disciplining and garnering support for the educational learning process. In Clint’s opinion the most powerful indicator of student success would be having personal and academic growth from the start of the school year until the end of it. Clint’s leadership style is fair but firm. Clint originally wanted to be a teacher because he enjoyed the social sciences, especially history and being around people. These two wants in a career lead him to pursue a career in education. Clint believes that teaching creates opportunities for knowledge and individual growth which is the ideal of combining wisdom and knowledge to make an impact.

As an administrator and educator, Clint attends trainings, conferences and takes college level classes (six credits for every five years) for recertification and professional growth. Clint believes that teachers are the experts of their trade. It is important to empower teachers considering that providing teachers with the support and means for them to be successful in the classroom will reciprocate into the learning lives of the students. In order to build a positive school culture, Clint feels that the necessary support needs to be provided to teachers, students and parents so that all stakeholders have accountability in their student’s education. It is also important to provide a safe, and rewarding environment for all individuals to feel welcome, wanted and to be involved.

Clint and his wife have been married for 24 years. The couple has a son who is in his first year as a teacher and a daughter that is currently attending college in Sioux Falls. Clint volunteers at track meets as well as assists at sporting events when needed. Clint and his wife volunteer for the American Cancer Society, Special Olympics and the March of Dimes. When Clint is not busy working at Andes Central, he enjoys coaching and watching sports, especially the Jacks and Packers; camping; fishing; golfing; reading; and spending time with his family.

Christopher Derry

Christopher Derry is the high school principal for Andes Cen-tral and has been in that position for the past two years. Part of his job duties are to oversee the dayto- day operations of the school and assist with the development and progress of the school as it grows and improves. Christopher enjoys working for Andes Central because of the students and staff. Before coming to Andes Central, Christopher was a school counselor and coach for 11 years. He has coached football, volleyball, boys’ basketball, wrestling and track.

What motivated Christopher to want to become a principal was that he wanted to be able to utilize his knowledge and experience of working with others to make a change for the better in order to assist students in their growth and development. He also wanted to be able to assist students in their growth just as other educators had done for Christopher when he was in school. As an educator, Christopher feels that they should be looking for a variety of ways to reach students and aid them on their path to becoming productive community members. The best part of being a principal is seeing the students reach for their potential and set goals for themselves. He also enjoys seeing the staff work to assist the students in a variety of ways as needed. The most challenging part of Christopher’s job as a principal is getting communication between the community to the school in order to improve the local area for the students and future.

Character is one of the most powerful indicators of student success to Christopher because it shows how a student will be in and out of school towards others and themselves. As an administrator and educator, Christopher attends conferences and meetings on what is going on currently in education to stay up-to-date. He also researches and communicates with colleagues on ideas to improve the school for the students. To better empower the teachers of Andes Central, Christopher meets with teachers regularly to listen to their ideas. Christopher believes that by building relationships and being consistent on expectations it will build a positive school culture. Setting expectations allows a standard to be set that all can work to achieve. Knowing what is expected allows a student to understand where they are going and what they are trying to achieve which allows for independent growth while respecting others’ individuality.

Christopher is married to his wife Jaqueline and they have five children, Madeline, James, Kateline, Jacob and Marilin. Christopher volunteers when available. Their children are very active in 4-H and other community and school activities. When Christopher is not busy working at Andes Central, he enjoys spending time with his family and working on house projects as a family. Christopher also enjoys outdoor activities like golf, other sports and helping on the family farm.

Thank you, Clint and Christopher, for the dedication and the passion that you bring to not only your role at the school but the Lake Andes community as well. It is thanks to educators and administrators like you three that provide a wonderful learning environment and experience for students and staff that give us a reason to honor and celebrate principals.