Nieskens named Montana High School Principal of Year

Whitehall High School Principal Hannah Nieskens was recognized last week as the 2018 Montana High School Principal of the Year.

In her third year at the school, Nieskens received the award last Thursday from the Montana Association of Secondary School Principals.

Whitehall Superintendent John Sullivan said it is a great honor for not only Nieskens, but also for the school.

"She's done a tremendous job. It's awesome to have the High School Principal of the Year for Montana in our building every day," Sullivan said.

Nieskens said she was both surprised and honored to receive the award, especially because there are so many great Principals in Montana.

"I give a lot of credit to our students and staff. Building a culture of achievement in the school has been one of my goals, and I think this is happening with the buy in of the students and staff. You don't get an award like this without a great staff and students that are working hard every day," she said.

Nieskens said some of the things they have really worked hard on the past three years are dual credit courses with colleges, adding new career and vocational courses, AP courses, a multi-tiered systems support grant from OPI to help students struggling in school and adjustments to staff. She also discussed Whitehall High School moving from 99th in the state in ACT testing to sixth among all schools in Montana.

When she took the job, Nieskens did not feel they had subpar students or a subpar staff, and wondered why the students are scoring below the state average in ACT testing. She said they worked hard to exceed the state average and have gone from 99th to 25th to sixth in three years, with the goal from this year's testing is to first among all Montana High Schools.

Nieskens will join 50 other winners across the United States at the National Association of High School Principals Institute September 23 to 26 in Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining the administration in Whitehall, Nieskens was the Principal at the Northside School in Wolf Point. She has also worked as an Educational Computing Strategist for Clark County School District in Nevada, and was a teacher in the Billings Public School System.

Earlier this year, Nieskens was named an Elizabeth Dole Foundation Fellow.