St. Ignatius’ Hendrickson named Principal of the Year

Shawn Hendrickson, principal at St. Ignatius High School and Middle School, was awarded the prestigious Montana Association of Secondary School Principals’ (MASSP) Principal of the Year award for 2020 by the School Administrators of Montana (SAM).

It only takes a few minutes inside the St. Ignatius schools to see why, summed up in Hendrickson’s simple yet profound assertion: “We are a welcoming and friendly school.”

Hendrickson says when he arrived at this school, then-principal Jason Sargent (now superintendent) and the staff had already done “a ton” of work toward creating a culture that made each individual student feel welcome and supported at school. His contribution, as he modestly claims, has been to “fine tune” the system.

“Personal relationships are how you get to the root of everything,” Hendrickson said. “The foundation of everything we do here is that every kid has an adult they can relate with.”

Each student is known on a personal level. Staff members mentor students one-on-one to help them set goals and overcome obstacles to their success. This may include helping with school matters, but also identifying and helping them and their families address personal struggles, “whatever the parent or the kid needs to help them be successful. We don’t want anyone to slip through the cracks – period.”

Hendrickson says that although the principal award singles him out as an individual, “It should really be School of the Year.” The school conducts detailed surveys of students, parents, and staff to identify areas of growth in the school and ideas for improvement. They break kids out into focus groups to help specify what would help them feel the school is a great place to be. This year, out of 62 questions, 61 were rated as areas where the school had improved, with only one decrease. “That’s the best we’ve ever seen,” says Hendrickson.

Out of that effort have come such student-driven concepts as “teachers should have fun at school,” and that the loud, jangling bell system could be replaced with music.

“That’s been a game changer in itself,” Hendrickson said. It took three years to get the system implemented. Students request songs by daily themes such as “Twangy Tuesday” (country) or “Whistling Wednesday.” During an interview in Hendrickson’s office, Led Zeppelin came on the intercom for “Throwback Thursday.”

“Now we have kids walking into class whistling, teachers and kids singing songs at the same time. You just come into class with a better attitude.”

A supportive school board also contributes to the school’s success, said Hendrickson.

“We come to them with a vision, and sometimes it seems a little wild, but they say, ‘Let’s do it.’”

One example came after he and several others came back from a tech conference with the understanding that they needed to hire a designated STEAM (science, tech, engineering, arts, math) teacher that could teach at all grade levels. “They let us open a new position that didn’t even exist,” he said, and touts the all-freshman girls NASA Mars Rover team “rockin’ the robotics world,” led by the teacher they hired, Jessie Nesper.

The school’s efforts to connect with the community were recently paid back when the community voted to approve a levy. This enabled the school to build a new wing dedicated to vocational education, and a new practice gym. To schedule sports practices with limited gym space, some athletes had to arrive at school as early as 6 a.m., which hurt their ability to stay alert in class, and was a driving safety issue, especially during the dark of winter.

Teacher Kendal Anderson summed up the numbers in her letter nominating Hendrickson for the award. The graduation rate during his tenure has risen to 90% from 72%, and the dropout rate decreased by more than half. 93% of parents say our school is a welcoming and friendly place and that their child has at least one adult who cares about them. Mission High School received the 2016 “7th Generation award” from Graduation Matters Montana for its efforts to increase graduation rates and increase student achievement for Native American students, she said.

As the 2020 Principal of the Year, Hendrickson will represent Montana at the national level as a contender for the National Principal of the Year award.