“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• A new Tracy Area Elementary School principal was hired in April of this year. Michael Munson was hired last week following a March 31 interview. He will begin at his new post this summer. Munson is originally from Milbank, SD. He knew at a young age that he wanted to be an educator, and his interest never wavered.
“I love working with kids. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said.
He attended college at Northern State in Aberdeen, SD., where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He taught in Canby for 10 years, and during that time worked toward his principal licensure at St. Mary’s in Minneapolis. For the past seven years, he has been elementary and high school principal in the George-Little Rock School District in Iowa.
Having worked as a high school teacher, being in an elementary school setting was new for Munson. With the help of his staff, he dove right in and found it was something he really loved. Elementary school kids’ brains are like sponges, Munson said, and they are enthusiastic about learning and coming to school.
“I really love that age of kids,” he said. “I’m fascinated with learning at that age, and the development of kids. You have to build such a strong base during those years, because it’s the only way they will be successful moving forward.”
Once he had the opportunity to work with both elementary and high school students, he found himself feeling pulled more toward elementary education, and the position in Tracy provided him the opportunity to focus solely on being an elementary principal.
Having taught in Canby, the Tracy Area Public School District is familiar to Munson. He coached baseball when he worked in Canby, and remembers coaching against Bill Tauer’s Panthers. Another familiar face for Munson is Supt. Chad Anderson. Munson and Anderson worked together in Canby; Anderson was the Athletic Director and Dean of Students there during Munson’s tenure.
• Last week’s answer: Firemen from four area departments assisted Balaton firemen in controlling a major fire in that community’s downtown business district on an early Monday morning in 1978.
