Early on, Thorson knew BV was ‘a district he wanted to be a part of’

Twenty-eight years ago, in the very first week that Brad Thorson was teaching physical education at Brandon Valley High School, said he knew he had found where he belonged.

“I knew I was going to end my career here,” says Thorson, who will retire from a 31-year career in education following the 2021-22 school year. Twenty-eight of Thorson’s three decades in the profession were at Brandon Valley. “You talk about the staff, you talk about the administration, students and parents – we’ve got a really good thing here and you could feel that right away, and I knew this was a district I wanted to be a part of.”

In his 28 years here, Thorson said he never put another resume together.

“I knew this is where I wanted to be and I knew that this is where I wanted to raise my family. I feel very fortunate to have been a small piece of this very big puzzle,” he said.

Thorson’s career began in Lennox, where he taught middle school kids for three years. He credits the late Superintendent George Gulson, Don Kuchel and Paul Lundberg for hiring him in 1994. Along with his PE assignment, he also took on the role of head coach for the Lynx boys basketball program.

“They took a chance on a young kid,” Thorson tells. “I didn’t have any head coaching experience and we were just transitioning to the ESD (Conference) … and those three – bless their hearts – said, ‘Let’s give this young guy a try,’ and I’m forever grateful for those three giving me that opportunity.”

Three years in, Thorson had molded the Lynx boys into a state-contending team, but it came with some “growing pains.”

“I had to get our guys to believe that they could compete at that level,” he said. “that was probably our biggest struggle. Then, in 1997, that team got third in state, we won the ESD and I think you could just see the eyes in our kids light up and say, ‘We can compete at this level.’”

Then came Brandon Valley’s magical 1998 season that resulted in a state title.

After teaching PE for a year, Thorson solely taught health for the next five. That’s when he was tabbed to move into the assistant high school principal position. For the next 14 years, he worked alongside head principal Dr. Gregg Talcott for 14 years and activities director Randy Marso.

“We had a lot of fun together and I think we ran a really, really good building,” he says of the trio’s 14 years together. “The thing about us is we knew each other’s strengths and we knew each other’s weaknesses and we could feed off of each other. Those were a very special 14 years and those two have grown to become very good friends of mine. When you spend 14 years together – day and night – because there’s all those nights, not only do you become close, but your families become close, and I’ll always treasure those 14 years because those were pretty special times.”

After earning his teaching degree from Augustana College (now University), Thorson went on to gain his masters. 

“Ever since I started in the profession of education, I always kind of wanted to be an administrator,” he said. “I thought I was probably going to be an athletic director, but then I really liked working in the school setting.”

That’s where he discovered his “true calling.”

“When you’re the assistant principal, you work with kids who sometimes struggle in school, they’re not real motivated, that sort of thing. And those are the kids I really attracted to. Those are the ones that you can have conversations with and you can see improvement,” he said.

When former BVMS principal Dan Pansch announced his plans to retire, Thorson let Superintendent Dave Pappone know about his interest in the position.

“Lo and behold, eight years later, here I am,” he said. “My first job in Lennox was at the middle school, so I kind of gravitated a little bit towards the middle school setting and the middle school kids.”

Thorson describes every day at the middle school as “a different day.”

But what he relishes about the position is that middle schoolers are still young enough “that hopefully you have an influence on them, that you can mold them in certain directions,” he said. “They’re still very young and they don’t always think about long-range implications, basically. I think one of my responsibilities is to try and teach them some of those decision-making processes. Again, from the high school to the middle school is different because you’re looking at a whole different maturity level. Kids in middle school are still trying to find themselves, while many times at the high school, they’ve already kind of found their niche.”

Like many of his colleagues, Thorson’s job allowed him to be part of his children’s daily lives at school.

“Deep down, I think my kids enjoyed that,” he said. 

With his own mother working as a kindergarten aide while he was in school at Canton, Thorson said he knew from his own personal experience what it was like to have a parent in the building.

“I always make fun of my daughter (Taylor) because I’d have to drop her off and then go and park the car so nobody would see her getting dropped off by her dad. But it was always nice because they’d pop in and say ‘hi’ and you’d see them throughout the day and ask them how their day was going, so yeah, that was a special time.”

Thorson considered a career in the weekly newspaper business. His father owned and operated the Sioux Valley News, the weekly newspaper for the Canton community. As the son of the publisher, he worked in nearly every facet of the business.

“I worked there a long time with my dad and I was one that did just about everything from printing to taking pictures to writing stories, to proofreading, to putting papers together to hauling papers,” he said. “My dad and I had a heart to heart: ‘Is this something that you want to do?’ I think deep down, he knew I had the coaching bug and I had to get that out first. It all worked out well. It worked out for him and it worked out for me, but I always have a piece of my heart in the newspaper business, because it was such a big part of our family.”

In hindsight, Thorson says he should have written a book after stepping into his administrative roles.

“There’s some great stories to tell,” he said. “From a coaching standpoint, obviously the ’97, ’98 teams were great and they are special memories that I will always cherish.”

He ranks graduation day as his favorite day of every school year. 

“When you see those kids that have accomplished something to get their diploma, that was always a very special day for me,” he said. “I was always the one that had to read their names and I stewed and worried about that for days in advance. If people would’ve seen my cheat sheet up there on how to pronounce names, they would’ve got a giggle out of that. But it was pretty special, because every time I read a student’s name, I got to look them in the eye. A lot of times I would nod or do whatever, and that was pretty special because you saw those kids when they were freshmen and how they matured and grew up and then you see them flourish out in society, and that’s what it’s all about.”

Following his departure, two Brandon Valley alums will be taking over as BVMS principal and assistant principal, Dr. Amanda Nelson and Adam Rothenberger, respectively. Thorson said there’s some comfort in handing over the reins to them.

His only piece of advice to them: “Just be yourself.”

“Both of these two young people are very creative and probably have some good ideas that they’re going to bring. I’ll be honest with you, I’m from the ‘old school’ setting, and they’re going to bring in some new ideas, which I think we need. I think the biggest advice – and I got it from some of my mentors – is you just need to be yourself, you can’t be somebody else.”

His cancer diagnosis in the fall of 2019 is what prompted his decision to retire at 55.

I didn’t have the intention to retire at 55, but obviously the cancer diagnosis changed that decision. While I feel good and while I’m able, I want to enjoy retirement a little bit, but I’m not done working, I’ll work somewhere, but I’m going to take the summer off and then I’ll worry about it in the fall,” he said.

Thorson said he won’t substitute teach. Instead, he feels there are other career avenues to explore.

“If somebody is looking for an old, retired school administrator, I’m going to be available in September-October. To be honest, I’m probably going to take a little time out of schools just to step back a little bit and give myself some time to breathe. It’s a new chapter. I’m still relatively young and I think I have another working phase in my life, I just don’t know what it is yet.”

Thorson and his wife, Jodie, will continue to live in Brandon. 

“We are going nowhere,” he assures. “We like this community. We still have friends here and we have no intention of going anywhere. You’ll still see me at games and walking around town, and I am invited to a couple coffee groups, so I’ll start drinking coffee early in the morning and solve all of these world problems at these coffee groups.”

He also looks forward to winter vacations – something his career in education didn’t allow – and that his life will no longer revolve around bells and early-morning phone calls.

As the days to the end of the school year dwindle, Thorson said leaving his post as the BVMS principal is more difficult than what he thought it would be.

“I’ve had conversations with Randy and Gregg and whoever else, and my last day is not going to be an easy day. When you put your heart and soul into it for 28 years, it’s not going to be an easy day,” he said. 

Next August, when the kids return to classes for the 2022-23 school year, the Thorson’s will begin a getaway to Alaska.

“The crazy thing is the day we leave is the first day of school, so I think my wife maybe had that in the back of her mind just to kind of ease some of that indifference, as you could say. But it will be different, without question.”