News
A loving gift from a sincere heart
Scott Wagar
02/07/2012
For those individuals who know Connie Aasheim, the school secretary for Middle School, those individuals know one thing for sure, which is that Aasheim is a very special person whose heart is kind, sincere and professional in the most genuine way. More so, that caring heart is filled with complete compassion for the kids of the Bottineau School District, which was shown recently when she went above and beyond her duties at the school and gave a gift to all individuals who have involvement with the school.
When Middle School was constructed in 1989, the school district didn’t identify the location of the school on the outside of the building. With Middle School not having an outside sign, it has cause confusion for decades for individuals and parents attempting to find the school and its office.
In recent months, Aasheim took it upon herself to fix this problem and originated the idea of placing a sign on Middle School’s main entrance to properly identify its location, which this past week was successfully completed after many hours of long work.
“After working here for 21 years it feels good to have a sign now so people know where Middle School is and where to go inside to find its main office,” Aasheim said. “This is especially true for people who are from out-of-town who come here and they are told to come to Middle School, but they have no idea where it is at. Or, for the parents who are registering their kindergarten children and they are told to go to the Middle School office to register, but they don’t know where the Middle School office is at.”
For Aasheim, she led a group of people in designing the sign, then brought the design to Bottineau’s Northern Exposure Sign Company where she worked with the company in bringing together the perfect sign for Middle School, which in her heart she dedicated it to the students, parents and the individuals who have an association with the school.
When she received the pricing for the sign, Aasheim then met with Jason Kersten, superintendent of the Bottineau School District, and presented the sign proposal to him.
“I told Mr. Kersten that there was a real need for a sign to let people know where Middle School was and how to find its office,” said Aasheim, who also stated that Kersten was very receptive and understanding of her idea.
This last week, Aasheim was given the opportunity to watch as Northern Exposure brought the sign to Middle School and placed it above the north side door, which is the official entrance to the school.
The school district financed the sign, but Aasheim stated that if the school district couldn’t have afforded it, she would have taken care of it. “I would have been willing to pay for it myself,” she said.
Since the sign has gone up, numerous staff members have been in high regard of Aasheim and her diligence in seeing the school’s sign project all the way through to completion.
“Connie is a remarkable woman and all she does at the school is always for the children,” said Vicki Metcalfe, elementary counselor and 504 Coordinator in the Bottineau School District. “She loves these kids very much and it shows with this new sign.”