When it comes to paving the way for students with and without disabilities to learn together in a mutually beneficial manner, Buffalo High School staff members have stood out as leaders in their individual fields over the past few years.
This spring, they combined their efforts to host the first Unified Symposium in Minnesota, and perhaps the nation.
The Friday, April 10, event drew 38 educators from around the state. Several came from Anoka-Hennepin, the state’s largest district, while others hailed from Cloquet, Morris, Mankato and other communities near and far.
The same values that defined the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose School District when Pam Miller arrived 37 years ago continue to set it apart today.
Miller, who became Buffalo High School’s first Spanish teacher in 1989, and who has served the past 22 years as the district’s Director of Teaching and Learning, is preparing to retire at the end of the school year.
“Our foundation is on relationships. I think that’s not always true of other districts,” Miller said. “And we’re a district that has always valued choice. That was true when Buffalo had one stoplight and Pamida was here. Now the community and the district look different, but those things are still true in 2026. That’s been neat to see, how those things change over time, but also how they remain true.”
BHM was one of just three school districts nationwide chosen for a special film project about encouraging student voice in the learning process.
Earlier this week, a film crew and members of the National Association of Secondary School Principals visited Northwinds Elementary School, Buffalo Community Middle School and Buffalo High School to interview staff members and students about how we help students grow by encouraging their participation in and ownership of their learning. The interviews and visuals will be combined with content from two other districts in Maryland and Illinois, and used for teacher training around the United States.
"Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose has been identified as a strong example of this work," said a statement from NASSP. "These stories will serve as real-world models that other districts can learn from and adapt within their own communities."
Careening from one world-ending apocalypse to the next, surviving, and finding the will to begin again, the Antrobus family endures by “The Skin of Our Teeth.”
Buffalo High School’s spring play portrays humankind’s ongoing flirtations with disaster, and ultimately its resilience.
“It focuses a lot on family, and how a family needs to hold itself together,” said senior Lucas Louwagie, who plays the head of that family, George Antrobus. “These people face so much. Even if they are at each other’s throats, they’re still a family and they’re still holding each other together through everything.”
When the dust settled on the third- and fourth-grade Battle of the Books competition at Northwinds Elementary on March 12, teammates Liam Grangroth and Cole Pearsall were the last contestants standing.
After taking third place in last year’s Battle of the Books competition for third- and fourth-graders, Lila Becker and Aria Muhonen were feeling optimistic coming into this year’s final competition for fifth-graders only.
When notified that he and Jeanette Bermudez had been selected as Buffalo High School’s Triple ‘A’ Award winners for 2025-26, Parker Carlson’s mind went directly to his predecessors.
“I thought of the people who won it last year – Hope [Bjornson] and Mitchell [Friesz] – and I thought, ‘Wow, there’s no way I’m in the same class with those two,’” Carlson said. “I felt and still do feel a little undeserving, but it’s really great that all of our work is getting recognized. I think it’s just a really great honor to be memorialized with such a great group of people.”
Bermudez was similarly humbled.
“It’s crazy that I’m able to be the person the school picked to represent this,” she said.
It can take time for leadership qualities to emerge, but eventually those qualities cannot be hidden.
By nominating Brielle Sebey and Braxton Teschendorf for the Minnesota State High School League’s ExCEL Award, Buffalo High School has granted recognition that neither student was seeking, but both deserve.
The award, which represents Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership, is for juniors who participate in an MSHSL fine arts and/or athletic activity, hold a leadership position in their school, and volunteer in their community, among other stipulations.
Although she has quickly dismissed email invitations to join Google’s annual art contest in past years, BHS art teacher CiAnn Jackson suddenly felt a bolt of inspiration this school year.
The difference?
Senior student Benjamin Freshour, whose artistic skill, speed and “superpower” made him a natural fit for this year’s theme.
Buffalo High School invites community members to attend a Choral Showcase at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12, in the Buffalo High School Performing Arts Center (PAC) following the cancellation of the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) Convention. The MMEA performance, originally scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 12, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, was canceled, but student musicians will still have the opportunity to share their work thanks to local collaboration and support.
