In honor of his final year at South, I sat down with Dr. Bertsch to discuss his career in education, his plans for the future, and advice he has for students.

Dr. Bertsch began his career in 1986 as a math teacher at St. Mary’s in Bismarck, coming from a line of teachers. “There’s a lot of teachers in my family, as well. My mom was a teacher, an elementary principal, and my dad was a teacher and a high school principal as well. So it seemed as though that that was part of the family business.” In Bismarck, Bertsch also enjoyed coaching football, basketball, and track. After getting a master’s in education administration from UND, Bertsch worked as an assistant principal in both Bismarck and Jamestown, before becoming an assistant principal here at South in 1997. Bertsch has worked at South for 27 years, becoming the official principal in 2004.

What’s your favorite part of being a principal?

“People. The students, the people, the pride, the tradition, and being a Bruin. It’s just a real special thing to be able to have the ability to say that I’m part of Fargo South High School and part of this community, because it resonates what I consider to be just an enormous amount of recognition, tradition, and also awareness of what this school has done for a number of students within the community.”

What are you most proud of from your time at South?

“I just think it’s the opportunity to see students grow. Just seeing students come in as first year students at South High School, and watching the growth and watching the ability to be able to take on leadership roles, and prepare themselves for life after high school. Seeing the academic progress, seeing the maturity, seeing the emotional progress, seeing the social connections that students make with each other, just a matter of building culture, and creating the Bruin way. 

What’s a challenge you’ve dealt with?

“I’ll say, technology. Cell phones, for example, would be one. Of course now there’s unlimited uses of information that can be available at your fingertips. I would say the cell phone certainly has changed education, in good ways, but also some very challenging ways as well.”

I know you plan to work at Legacy Children’s Foundation, can you expand on their mission?

“Their mission is really about development in three different areas: learning, service, and scholarship. Their primary focus is is that you (the youth they serve) are dedicated to your studies. And many of these individuals, if not all of them, are from families that may not have as many resources as experiences or are in their first time being able to get into higher education or degree fields. The emphasis certainly is on education, but also comes to a matter of a lot of service as well, that in this world, we not only need to be served, but we also need to be able to serve others. And that’s a big part of legacy Children’s Foundation mission: to make sure that that is an opportunity that each of the individuals have, as well as experience, but in a way that’s done in a leadership capacity.”

What’s a tip you would give to underclassmen at South?

“Take advantage of every opportunity that exists in Fargo schools, and Fargo South especially. Each year, I usually stand in front of the students and say, You don’t realize that you’re in probably the top five to ten percent of all students in United States that have access to the facilities, to the technology, to the curriculum, to the staff, to both academic and extracurricular activities that exist here.”

What kind of advice would you give to students like me, going off into the real world?

“Follow your dreams, follow your goals, follow your passion. There’s this thought process, sometimes that as an 18 year old, I have my whole life in front of me, which is true. I’m thinking of when I was 18, to my age now. And it’s gone by fast. And it’s gonna go by fast for everybody as well, too. I also say as well as out of the meetings, especially with the freshmen, you’ve got four years, and it’s going to be no time before you’re sitting in these chairs as seniors. And that is just a small piece of how fast time goes. But as soon as you get finished with school, you think you have a lot of time, which certainly we do. But to maximize what you want to do with that time, follow your dreams, follow your passion. And don’t let people take you from that dream, go after it, go after it with with the right reasons and right convictions. And see what happens. Just because a door closes doesn’t mean that another one doesn’t open.