Schools have many activities for students to participate in. There are student clubs and organizations, fine arts, athletics, co-curricular, inter-curricular and support groups. If a student cannot find an area of interest within the school, they can organize a club or group with like-minded people and start their own. Our objective is to provide programs that allow students to flourish.

With opportunities for nearly everyone, it is sometimes easy to forget the priority of schools — academics and learning. Achieving at the highest level for each student should be the highest priority of a school. This level is very different for each student, based on his or her background, skills and abilities. Challenging curriculum and expanding student knowledge should be the goal of every teacher and parent.

There are times a student will hit the “wall” during their learning process, and they question why they are in the class. A question often asked of students who encounter challenging work: “do you want a diploma or do you want an education?” The answer should be, we want an education, and the byproduct of the education is the diploma. An education should challenge students to the level of their capacity. When expanding our knowledge we can become frustrated due to the challenges we encounter. It is through these challenges that our students learn to stand for themselves, gain confidence and see the value of the hard work they put in.

While it is important to teach the skills associated with educating the whole child in areas such as: citizenship, tolerance, healthy living habits, equity, dignity, and anything else that can be placed into the school curriculum — academics should remain the highest priority. We are proud of New Ulm High School and how the students continue to meet the challenges of higher academic standards. The efforts of the students and staff are reasons why our student ACT and MCA scores continue to increase and remain above state and national averages.