Dan Peterson was aware that he had been nominated for the Minnesota All-State School Board but then he did not hear anything about it and he turned his mind to other things.
"Our Superintendent [Annette Freiheit] and Wally Connaker had told me that they would enter me as a candidate, so I knew that had taken place, but then I hadn't heard anything about it, and I hadn't really thought about it that much," Peterson told WCMP.
So when Connaker announced at the December Pine City School Board meeting that Peterson had been named one of six people in the entire state to the All-State School Board, Peterson was definitely surprised.
He said, "You're not sure how to react when you hear about these kinds of things. It was a nice honor and humbling and something I hadn't expected."
Peterson has served the Pine City School Board for over 30 years. He initially ran for a seat because he had children that were starting school. He thought the position would be a good way to give back to the community, but he did not think he would to stay on the board for a long time.
Peterson planned on being on the board for two, maybe three terms; however, when it came time for re-election, there was always something going on in the district that he felt needed his attention.
"Typically what would happen is something would be coming up that we would be heavily involved in as a board whether it was building projects or new administrators that made it hard to leave at that time," he said.
He would tell himself that he would stay on for one more term to see the project to completion. That "one more term" turned into another "one more term" and it added up.
Peterson was honored for his work on January 17 during a luncheon at the Minnesota School Boards Association Leadership conference in Minneapolis.
Dan sat down with WCMP after the conference to talk about his time on the board and reflect how the Pine City School District has changed during his tenure. You can listen to that interview below.
