Caledonia Argus

Elementary principal earns doctorate degree

Posted: 4/23/02

By Shannon McKinney
Argus News Reporter

The day after finishing almost 10 years of schooling to obtain her doctorate degree in elementary administration, Caledonia Elementary Principal Connie Hesse told students she still wants to go by the name Mrs. Hesse, not Dr. Hesse.

Cheyanna Davis, a kindergarten student in Greta Mierauís class inquired, ìAre you going to be the school nurse now?î

On Thursday, April 18, Hesse spent two hours in oral defense of her dissertation: ìRetaining children in Kindergarten: Perspectives of Elementary School Principals and Kindergarten Teachers.î

She will receive the actual degree on Saturday, May 11, at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

The degree comes after several years of sacrifice and support from herself and family. ìItís been hard for my family,î she said.

Now she looks forward to playing Monopoly at night with her children, and just being a mom, wife and principal.

Hesse received her bachelor and masters degrees in elementary education at Southwest State University in Marshall, MN.

It has been a dream of hers to someday be a professor at the university in the educational department at Southwest State. ìItíd be fun to teach adults who want to become teachers,î she said.

But Hesse said she does not plan on doing that anytime soon. She is enjoying being an elementary principal.

Hesse received quite a surprise from staff and students Friday, April 19. A lighted sign was posted in front of the school announcing her success. Five hundred cookies were ordered and one by one each class came in to congratulate Hesse with cards and hugs. Third grade student Mitchell Meyer even made up a joke to go with the sign outside that read ìSheí one smart cookieî.

He said, ìWhy did the cookie go to the doctor?î

ìCause he was feeling crummy.î

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