In Lisbon, local pride isn’t whispered. It hangs from storefront windows, smiles from yard signs, and greets you the moment you turn onto Main Street.
For high school business and career and technical education teacher Hannah Sagvold, that sense of community is more than atmosphere. It’s fuel.
“You drive around and you see how much pride there is in our school,” Sagvold said. “Knowing that you have the support of the community makes the hard days worth it. It makes you want to try harder, and do more, and be more present.”
A Teacher of the Year Finalist With a Global Perspective
That connection to place is all the more striking given that Sagvold’s path to Lisbon began far from the Great Plains. She grew up in Queensland, Australia — “an hour from the beach,” she recalled with a laugh — and never imagined building a life in rural North Dakota.
But life has a way of leading people where they’re meant to be.
In her case, that journey included meeting a North Dakota ranch kid who was spending a year working in Australia. “It worked out,” she said. “We got married and had two kids.” A new home — and a deep sense of belonging — followed.
Quote byHannah Sagvold , Teacher of the Year finalist
Helping Students Feel Seen, Supported and Capable
That belonging shows up clearly in the way Sagvold teaches. Her philosophy centers on making students feel seen — deeply, individually, unmistakably.
“I want my students to feel seen,” she said. “I want them to know they’re valued and that what they want to do matters.”
One of her favorite teaching memories dates back to her years in special education, when she designed a full math unit around a student’s family ranch. The student had been disengaged, frustrated, and ready to give up on school entirely. But once the math reflected his world—feed ratios, acreage, herd counts — something shifted.
“He locked in,” Sagvold said. “I knew I’d never use that unit again, but I knew it was going to help him. So I did it.”
From Small-Town Pride to the Classroom
Today, she carries that same student-centered philosophy into her CTE classroom, where students run a school-based enterprise and digitize more than a century of Lisbon yearbooks.
“They’re creating something that’s going to leave a legacy,” she said. “Five or ten years from now, they’ll come back and say, ‘I helped start that.’”
A Model for North Dakota’s Future Educators
Being named County Teacher of the Year and a finalist for North Dakota Teacher of the Year prompted reflection — but didn’t change her compass.
“Awards are nice, but they don’t define impact,” Sagvold said. “The real impact is in the community.”
And for her, that community is exactly where she’s meant to be — planting seeds, building pride and helping students recognize the value they carry long after they leave her classroom.
