ABOVE: Students put the ceremonious first shovels in the ground during the Martin County West (MCW) groundbreaking for a new school building on Wednesday. From left: Lawton Bohm, Madison Howard, Kylah Atkinson, Evelynn Christenson, Lixon Forsberg, Tyler Poppe and Isabella Fitzgerald.

SHERBURN– Hundreds of people, including students, staff and community members, took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for a new school building in the Martin County West (MCW) School District on Wednesday. The new school, which will serve all students grades preK-12, was made possible with the passing of a $64.7 million bond referendum and is expected to be completed by the start of the 2027-28 school year.

Superintendent Cori Reynolds acknowledged that this will be a new chapter for the school district and provided some history on it, going back 30 years to when MCW was formed. At that time she said the individual school districts in the communities of Welcome, Dunnell, Sherburn and Trimont were facing uncertain futures.

“Then the most remarkable thing happened. Three districts in four small but mighty towns who had been fierce rivals for decades decided that the best way to provide an excellent education to students at that time and in the future was to join forces. They were better together and thus Martin County West Public Schools, home of the Mavericks, was born,” Reynolds said.

She said not too long ago the district found itself at a similar crossroads where tough choices had to be made.

“Once again in the fine tradition of our forebears… voters in this district decided we were better off together and made a historic commitment to education at Martin County West Schools,” Reynolds said.

This time, they’re not combining communities, but consolidating. Instead of having students spread across four buildings in the district, all students will be under the same roof of the new 167,000 square foot facility in Sherburn, at the site of the current high school building.

Since the vote passed in May of 2024, much planning has taken place which all lead to the ceremonious groundbreaking.

In sticking with the district’s tagline– connected to the past, celebrating the present, cultivating the future– some students, past school board members and current school board members spoke.

A 6th grade student, Corbyn, said that in total 28 of her family members have graduated from the school district.

“Although everyone will miss our old school, we are so excited to start this new chapter in our educational journey as one family all under one roof,” she said.

Past school board member, Maynard Jagodzinske, who served at the time that the districts consolidated, spoke about the process of combining the schools.

“With change there are a lot of pluses and some really serious concerns,” Jagodzinske admitted.

However, he spoke to a lot of the benefits which included expanded curriculum, networking among teachers and a stronger FFA program.

“The bottom line is, we had really, really strong commitment and dedicated community members… it was amazing to see it and my sincere thanks to those individuals,” he said.

Next, Sarah Jagodzinske Rohman, a current school board member and daughter of Maynard, spoke about the move that today’s school board made regarding the future of the district.

“A school is not just a building. It’s built on strong, engaged community and the people within it,” Rohman said.

She shared that all seven of the current school board members are alumni of the school district.

“We, with the help of many of you today, worked to create a vision for the future,” she said.

MCW 9th grade student, Lillie, spoke about the future, which she called special.

“Right now, we’re just standing on the football field with a small patch of dirt to dig into, but it represents something much bigger. Soon, this space will become a place where we learn, try new things, meet new friends and figure who we want to be,” Lillie said.

She pointed out that she will be in the first class to graduate out of the new building and said it’s something to be proud of.

Finally, Preston Euerle, President of RA Morton, the construction manager on the project, and Charlotte Nienhaus, an architect with ISG, spoke about their involvement with the project.

Euerle said that phase one was getting the referendum passed, phase two was planning and designing and phase three, which is where they’re currently at, is accepting bids for the various contractors to do the work. Then phase four will be the start of construction.

“This fall we’ll start seeing a lot of the site work and shell construction and in about a two year period, you’ll see the finishes. It is a process and we thank you for your patience,” Euerle said.

After presentations, a group of students, one each from grades kindergarten through 12th, stuck shovels in the ground. After them, each of the seven school board members did the same.