From art teacher to principal in his 33 years in education, Dr. Dave Lund has taught at a variety of schools and met thousands of students. After ten memorable years at Prior Lake High School, Dr. Lund will be retiring from his position as principal.

Ironically, Dr. Lund didn’t like school as a teenager and never planned on becoming a principal. Despite original plans to study chemistry and go into medicine, after taking a required art class in college, Dr. Lund “fell in love with art” and he was inspired to pursue a career in education.

Before coming to Prior Lake, Dr. Lund worked as an art teacher for 14 years specializing in pottery and weaving. His career began at two small schools in Northern Minnesota: “The first school — the senior class was 18. In the afternoon, I taught at the big school and their senior class averaged about 45.” Outside of the classroom, Dr. Lund was also the yearbook advisor, the C team football coach, the head girls basketball coach, and the head baseball coach.

Though Dr. Lund will be retiring after ten years at PLHS, his experience as a principal spans 19 years. He spent 4 years at Albany High School and 5 years at Becker High School. Dr. Lund explained that his favorite part about being principal of PLHS is the students: “I call them my children because at my age, my children are older than you…I really like the students here.” He will miss the students of PLHS the most after retiring.

One of Dr. Lund’s favorite memories at PLHS is instituting Laker Time into our school schedule. He spent 5 years getting Laker Time approved and he “pushed really hard” so that we could enjoy using the time to complete schoolwork or relax with our friends.

Both opening Bridges and instituting Laker Time represent accomplishments he worked hard to complete, and he expressed pride in his ability to provide us with those opportunities. Dr. Lund’s proudest moment in his career is opening Bridges. He believes that “the big high school is not the setting for everybody, so we need to have a place for all students.” Dr. Lund’s love for students motivated him to create a space where everyone has an equal learning opportunity and he wants to be remembered for that love.

One thing that Dr. Lund didn’t expect to learn from his career in education is how cruel people can be over social media. He asserts that “people need to be nice to each other” and explains that he chooses not to use social media because of all the mean things that take place online. Despite social media incidents, Dr. Lund explained: “I really do believe we have a nice group of kids here.”

Outside of his love for the students, Dr. Lund wishes that people remember that he’s honest: “I truly mean what I say…that’s good or bad right?” Although sometimes people don’t always want the most honest answer, Dr. Lund believes it’s important to be honest.

After his retirement, Dr. Lund hopes to continue teaching at the college level. In the past, he taught night classes in ethics, school law, and leadership at Concordia University St. Paul while being our principal during the day. Dr. Lund also hopes to be teaching teachers who are going back to school for their principal or superintendent license.

Prior Lake High School students and staff wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Check out the video above for a fun Q & A with Dr. Lund!