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St. Paul’s has new interim principal

Markgraf

NEW ULM — Peter Markgraf will be the interim principal at St. Paul’s Lutheran Elementary School during the 2018-19 school year.

Markgraf was asked to serve at St. Paul’s after soon-to-be-former Principal Greg Thiesfeldt accepted a move to St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and School in California at the end of June.

“[Markgraf] is a good administrator,” pastor Nate Scharf said. “He most recently oversaw and helped with the addition of a pre-school wing in South Dakota, at his school Good Shepherd.”

Markgraf said he was excited about the call because of his history with the school.

His father, Dale, was a teacher at St. Paul’s and then the principal during Markgraf’s childhood.

During his father’s tenure, Markgraf attended St. Paul’s. He is returning to his grade-school alma mater.

“My father, Dale, was called to be a teacher at St. Paul’s way back in 1971 and I moved there when I was in kindergarten,” Markgraf said.

His time at St. Paul’s is so far only temporary, for a couple of reasons. Due to St. Paul’s accreditation with the Minnesota Nonpublic School Accreditation Association, a principal must have a master’s degree.

Markgraf does not have one nor is he currently pursuing one — although he did start one at Martin Luther College some years ago.

For Markgraf, this is an experiment in jumping back into the ministry. He has not been working in schools for about a year due to health complications.

“From my standpoint this will be a good test to see if I can get back into the ministry and actually into a grad-student program so that I can help out more at other schools that might need a principal in the next year or two,” Markgraf said.

A further challenge comes from St. Paul’s size. It is the largest school he has worked for as a principal.

“I prayed a lot about the size. The experience that I have is with some smaller schools as principal,” Markgraf said.

Most recently Markgraf worked at Good Shepherd Lutheran in Sioux Falls, S.D. He started there as a technology teacher in 2001 and served as principal for a decade starting in 2007.

Before that he worked in various director roles in St. Mathews in Iron Ridge, Wis., His first call was at St. Paul’s in Fort Atkinson, Wis.

Markgraf said he likes being a principal because he enjoys administration and is a good strategic planner. He described himself as a people person and wants to help lead St. Paul’s towards its goals.

“This was the Lord’s call to me and I had lots of prayer about it,” Markgraf said. “The reason I am there is not because of all of my abilities but because that is where God wanted me to be to help out for a year to make sure everything goes smoothly there.”

Connor Cummiskey can be emailed at ccummiskey@nujournal.com.

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