Inside Ben Reifel Middle School, principal aims to bring ‘The Bison Way’ to life

As students start classes at Ben Reifel Middle School, Principal Shane Hieronimus wants the newly constructed building to feel like home.

It’s a big ask for a school building with no established history or culture, Hieronimus acknowledges, but he knows it’s the students who ultimately will bring “The Bison Way” to life.

Hieronimus has been working for almost a year on the culture and values he wants the Ben Reifel Bison to embody. While crews were laying the foundation for the new building, he was working with his administrative team to define the four core tenets he hopes to see as the cultural foundation for the approximately 970 kids in the new Sioux Falls middle school.

“It boils down to creating authentic relationships with kids,” Hieronimus said.

And in those relationships, he hopes Ben Reifel staff can instill “The Bison Way” values of empathy, excellence, unity and integrity.

“He has a very good vision and a very great process of being able to plan things out,” Assistant Superintendent Jamie Nold said of Hieronimus’s style as a leader.

Hieronimus knew at a young age that he wanted to be an educator. He was inspired by his science teacher in his hometown of Ellsworth, Minnesota, and how that teaching style connected with students.

“It went beyond the curriculum,” Hieronimus said. “It was about you as a person.”

Hieronimus took that to heart as he went on to graduate from Augustana University in 1995. He took his first job in the Sioux Falls School District as an eighth grade history teacher at Axtell Park Middle School.

He later went on to coach wrestling and football at Lincoln High School, and in 2005, he became assistant principal at Edison Middle School. He moved to Memorial Middle School for a few years and in the fall of 2014 returned to Edison.

In 2017, Hieronimus was hired as Edison’s principal, and in 2020, he left to take over as principal for the then-under-construction Ben Reifel Middle School.

Working with middle schoolers has always been a passion for Hieronimus.

“I just love this age,” he said. “They’re trying to find out who they are. They’re able to be independent and be independent thinkers, and yet they look for guidance from you yet.”

As a leader, Hieronimus’s style is to listen first.

“His key strengths are really that ability to listen to people, take that information and develop that into something that’ll benefit all students,” Nold said.

Hieronimus hopes to get all students on board with his “Bison Way” vision through small-group discussions, lessons about core values and, most importantly, through personal relationships.

He also sees education as a partnership with students. He aims to create an environment where educators are meeting students where they are, and, at the end of the day, his goal is to help kids move forward.

“Every kid who walks through the door has a dream,” he said. “And our job is to bring that dream to life.”