Matthew Dickhausen, the new program coordinator for both community education and activities, started work at the high school last week.Dickhausen was particularly excited about his opportunity to work with youth through enrichment programs and activities. One program will try to get kids to pledge to not use tobacco and another will pair high school students with middle school ones.
Dickhausen actually knew his predecessor, Sarah Winter, from attending St. Cloud State University together. He graduated in the summer of 1997 with a major in recreation management and a minor in marketing and business. While in college and right after, he worked for community education in Annandale, primarily doing recreational things like tee ball, floor hockey, and a kindergarten through sixth grade daycamp.
Since then he has worked in Monticello in enrichment programs. There he helped with Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU), and Helping Hands.
For his new job, Dickhausen will also be doing a variety of organizational tasks. These duties include setting up the gymnasium for events, lining up referees, supervising tournaments, collecting information for community education classes, promoting them, and taking reservations for them.
He also will be participating with the community education advisory council and serving as the chair of its recreation committee.
Originally from North St. Paul, Dickhausen currently lives in Holdingford with his wife, who teaches in Sauk Centre. He first gained a favorable impression of the town when he served as a camp counselor at the Lake Koronis Assembly Grounds.
“I’m excited about the new job,” he said. “I like the town; it should be a new challenge.”