MOORHEAD — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made a stop at Moorhead's S.G. Reinertsen Elementary School Tuesday morning, Sept. 22, during a tour of the state to thank students and teachers for their resiliency during the pandemic.
Walz spoke to several teachers and their classes, which were being held outside Tuesday morning amid sunshine and pleasant temperatures.
The students appeared excited to see the governor, but the presence of another dignitary garnered just as much buzz.
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"I see a giant potato with eyes," Walz said as he met "Spuddy," the mascot of the Moorhead Spuds.
Walz, who spent several decades as an educator beginning as a fourth grade teacher, told the Moorhead students he's never had a job he enjoyed more.
At the entrance to S.G. Reinertsen, Walz talked for a bit with Carol Regelstad, a food and nutrition services worker who was handing out lunches to students and parents.
"Thanks for feeding the kids. They can't learn if they're hungry," Walz told Regelstad, who shared with the governor that she had been working with the district about eight years.
"This is my retirement job," Regelstad said.
Walz told a group of third graders who were learning about science tools that he, too, has been "learning a lot about science tools over the last six months," a reference to the pandemic and the swirl of information regarding the best ways to slow its spread in order to keep the state's medical system from being overwhelmed.
As for the latter, Walz said the state has largely succeeded in keeping the pandemic manageable from a public health standpoint.
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Leaving one group of students Walz urged them to "Stay safe and find the joy in this," referring to their time in school.
Moorhead schools Superintendent Brandon Lunak said he was glad Walz "got to see our best at our best" and joked district officials were being so careful about COVID-19 that "we wouldn't let the governor inside our school today."
Students in Moorhead Area Public Schools began the school year under a hybrid instruction model that split student time between distance and in-school learning.
The district recently announced that due to an increase in the rate of COVID-19 infection in Clay County the district's high school students would be switching to distance learning entirely starting Sept. 28.
