Michelle Strand – K-12 Greater than 600 Director
Michelle Strand, a science teacher at Fargo South High School, is currently serving as the K-12 Greater than 600 Director. She is a member of the ND United GROW Team, and also serves on the Governance Committee and the At-Large Position for the Fargo Education Association Executive Board.
Just a few years into her career, she discovered that teaching physics was her passion, and she became very involved in the Advanced Placement Physics program for College Board. She served as Exam Leader at the AP Physics reading for 10 years, was the co-chair of the AP Physics C Test Development Committee for six years and has been conducting workshops for AP Physics teachers around the country and across the globe.
Strand was a recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching for North Dakota in 2017, and she is a National Board Certified teacher for high school science. In 2022, she was selected as one of 11 STEM teachers from across the country as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow.
Bruce Schonberger – Northwest Director
Bruce Schonberger, a custodian for Minot Public Schools. He serves as the Financial Secretary for North Dakota Public Employees (NDPE) Chapter 52 and as Vice President of the Northern Chapter Missouri Slope Central Labor Council.
Schonberger was born in Fargo, and he moved to Minot when he was five years old. He attended Minot Public Schools and graduated in 1981.
Schonberger has worked for Minot Public Schools for 15 years. He has been the Financial Secretary for our local chapter for 11 years. He is on the Minot Public School Safety Committee, and he attends the Minot Education Association Building Representative meetings. He is also one of the contract negotiators for Chapter 52. He has been the Vice President of the Norther Chapter of the Missouri Slope Central Labor Council for many years and was the North Dakota 2023 Education Support Professional of the Year.
Karen Askerooth, NDU-Retired Director
Karen Askerooth was elected in 2020 to serve as President of NDU-Retired. She is a retired educator with 43 years of experience.
She has taught in Texas, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Karen has served as the Vice President of the Fargo Education Association, President of the Valley City Education Association, and was the ND NEA Board Director for 6 years.
Aaron Flynn - Higher Education Support Director
Aaron Flynn has been a staff member at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND since 2012. He is in his first term on the NDU Board of Directors representing Higher Education Support. Aaron is married and has two daughters and one son.
Darby Hart – Northeast Director
Darby is ND United's Northeast Region Director. She is an English/Language Arts Instructor in Langdon and previously was the president of the Langdon Area Education Association.
Darby received her bachelor’s degree in English Education from Minnesota State in Moorhead. She is president of the Lake Region Teacher Center Board, sits on the ACT Standard Setting Review Panel, and on the Curriculum Content Review committee for the ND State Assessment.
Sarah Lerud – Southeast Director
Sarah Lerud is a 7‐12 Grade Librarian in Valley City. She also serves as the Valley City Education Association President.
She was born in Valley City and graduated with a double major in English and Art Education from Valley City State University (VCSU). She has also taught in Kindred and Wishek. While working in Wishek, her true calling found her – to be a librarian. She is married, has one human son, and two schnauzer sons.
Angel Lindseth – K-12 Less than 600 Director
Angel is a school counselor for the Hope-Page School District in eastern ND. Angel received her bachelor’s degree from VCSU in Elementary Education and Psychology and her master’s degree from the University of Mary in School Counseling and currently she is working on her Educational Leadership doctoral degree.
Angel and her husband live in Page, ND. Together they have a blended family with six adult children and one grandchild.
Ernst Pijning – Higher Education Four-Year Director
Ernst Pijning is the Four-year Higher Education Director on the NDU board. Dr. Pijning specializes in Latin American history. His research interests include the eighteenth-century southern Atlantic, Brazil, and cross-cultural trade. He teaches a wide variety of classes in Latin American, African, and Atlantic history and has been at Minot State University since 1999.
Alexis Rasset – Southwest Director
Alexis Rasset is currently high school special education teacher in Mandan, ND. She has been an educator since 2016 and besides her current position she was a special education paraprofessional for 3 and a half years. She has been a member of NDU since she was in college.
This is her first year as board member to represent the southwest region. She is married and has 2 children.
