Numbers Up at Minot Ryan | Video

Jenny Castro | 8/16/2012

Today was the first day of school for students at Bishop Ryan. Along with many other schools in the area, Ryan has been making adjustments for the rising numbers in enrollment.

Up until Thursday, the administration at Bishop Ryan has been preparing for new students that have been enrolling this summer. Having only talked to some of the parents before, this was the first time they met many of the new students.

"The east coast, from the west coast, from down south, that was really kind of surprising to me. I didn`t know we`d be dealing with so many people that were coming to Minot, but it`s amazing,” said Assistant Development Director Jaimie Brunner.

In recent years, enrollment numbers have either stayed the same or declined. Now numbers are up. Out of 330 students, over 40 of them are new. The school has added a some new positions this year including a new preschool teacher for their sections, which have doubled from four to eight.

One third grade class has six new students. Mary Hemphill is one of their teachers and says it`s really important to make them feel comfortable.

“It’s always a traumatic experience for students coming to a new school and especially those who are in a new town, a new house, new school, new friends and we`re working real hard with our students that have been with our system to find those buddies and to make them feel at home and let them know this is really a great place to be."

Most of the new families that have decided to go to Bishop Ryan want to continue a Catholic school education. Some have chose to come here because they like the smaller school environment.

"In the same respect, you see people who just come into Minot, they would go through all the schools and visit all the schools an they would just go where they felt they were more comfortable, we kind of saw a collection of what reason they were coming for,” said Brunner.

The faculty have had to make some changes in order to manage the larger number of students, but so far the increase has been a good thing at the school.

Brunner says the school is making plans to handle the increasing number of families coming to Minot. They`re already working on a plan that will provide more room for the next school year.

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