by Dennis Dalman
In 2012, Julia Bjerke was hired as a reading-interventionist instructor at Sartell Middle School and 10 years later she is now the new principal of the Oak Ridge Early Learning Center.
Throughout her life Bjerke has been passionately committed to educating children, especially those who have a hard time with literacy skills – reading and writing.
“I’m very happy and excited to be principal here,” she said. “I know the people really well,” she said. “I did a lot of sub teaching when I would collaborate with teachers and so I know the names of so many students and their families.”
Bjerke said she has had a very busy summer getting ready for the new school year – planning for the return of teachers, organizing and putting together collaborative teams.
Bjerke, a Sartell resident, has two children, a son and a daughter, both of them now in Sartell High School.
Born in Mission Viejo, Calif., Bjerke and her family moved to Los Gatos, Calif. during her formative years. Later, she moved to Minnesota where she earned an elementary teaching degree from Concordia University, Moorhead. She then taught fifth-grade classes for four years in Rochester. During that time, she earned a reading-instruction license from Hamline University.
Bjerke moved to St. Cloud and taught in grades K-6 for one year at Talahi Community School. In the following year, she was hired to do intervention instruction at Cold Spring’s ROCORI High School, working with eighth-grade students who needed help with reading and writing skills. After one year in Cold Spring, Bjerke was hired in 2012 by the Sartell-St. Stephen School District as the very first reading intervention teacher at Sartell Middle School.
In 2018, she earned a license in administration from the University of St. Mary’s. After that, she taught for two years in Sartell’s Oak Ridge Elementary School, which at that time housed students in grades K-4. After two years, that school became Oak Ridge Early Learning Center for pre-school and kindergarten, as well as classes for Early Childhood Family Education.
Then, this past year, she applied for and interviewed for the principal job.
Bjerke’s hobbies are mostly outdoor activities. She enjoys kayaking, summer fishing, ice fishing, gardening, walking and visits to her parents’ lake home in northern Minnesota.
Julia Bjerke
