Wagner Community School has hired a new third grade teacher and middle school volleyball coach, Paige Petry, for the 20242025 school year. Paige is finishing up her final semester of student teaching at the University of South Dakota. This is also her first year as a teacher. Through the new advanced student teacher permit, she is allowed to finish her student teaching in conjunction with having a classroom of her own.

Paige lived in Lake Andes, but attended preschool through senior year at Wagner Community School. She is a WCS graduate of the 2021 class. What drove her into wanting to become a teacher was coming from a family of educators. She wanted a career that would allow her to be able to help people, especially kids.

She wanted to become a part of the Wagner Community School team because of the atmosphere and wonderful educational team that Wagner offers. Paige was previously student teaching under Gina (Soukup) Havlik. Paige enjoyed her time working with Gina as Gina is a great teacher and mentor. What Paige is most looking forward to this year as it is her first year with her own classroom is learning and growing with her students. Her goals for the 2024-2025 school year are to build lasting relationships with her students, while pushing them to the best of their abilities to grow not only as a student, but as a person. She also hopes to continue to learn more about teaching and ways that she can grow in her profession.

Paige is the daughter of Steve and Cherie Petry. Steve is the WCS Middle School Principal and Cherie is a first-grade teacher at WCS. Paige has three brothers: Payton (a sophomore at USD), Parker (a senior at WCS), and Payne (a freshman at WCS). She has cats named Simba and Nala and two cats she grew up with, Summer and Winter.

In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, coloring, painting, watching movies, going for walks, and relaxing with her cats. Paige’s favorite movies are those found on Disney Plus. One item on her bucket list would be to travel to as many places as she is able to. Paige wants to be able to see and experience the world.

Congratulations on your new position as a teacher and coach at WCS. We hope you have a wonderful year!