Start Building Your Future

My name is Ashton Merrill.

I'm from Armstrong, Iowa, and I'm studying Biology at South Dakota State University.

With biology, there’s so many options, no matter which route you go. So I figured with something that was a bit more broad, it'd be easier to pick a path further down the line and the courses offered at SDSU are so specific to whatever you want to do that if you want to be a well-rounded scientist, you can take just a little piece of all of these different departments that work so hard to educate their students.

I've had two internships at my time at SDSU.

Right now I'm at Dakota BioWorx as a bioprocessing intern.

Dakota BioWorx is a nonprofit, innovative institution that serves South Dakota State University, School of Mines, the midwest and the nation.

They use bioproducts to scale up for mass production. An example of a bioproduct that Dakota BioWorx uses is ethanol.

There's so much to learn, and I've never been one to say, “Oh, that's too much.” And it's also been fun to see the way that what I'm learning in lecture is applicable to a biotech field like this.

I work a lot with the bioreactors, taking samples, checking for QC and contamination, and I make a lot of media.

Everything's really hands on and it's all with brand new state-of-the-art equipment.

When I walked in the first time in the high bay, there's different size equipment and the room is sky high, and it was like a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment with tubes along the ceiling and all this different equipment.

I'll have two years of hands-on lab experience coming out of college, and I think that'll be huge no matter what path I go down.

I love the process of learning. It is an entertainment in itself.

A job well done is very satisfying. And to know that you learned something and you can now apply it. It's just, there’s satisfaction in knowing that.

My name is Jacob Jermaine Randal-Sample.

I'm from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I'm currently studying Aviation Education at South Dakota State University.

I saw jets, jets and planes taking off every day, taking off every day. And I was like, I think I want to do that.

So I did some research. I talked to some people and they recommended SDSU and the aviation program, and uh they weren't wrong.

It's been incredible.

They do such a good job with connectedness, being able to bond and even spend time outside of the program or when you're not working.

My support system is everyone in this program.

I feel like I could rely on anyone, and definitely my family, of course.

My end goal, my mission and my career where I want to be, actually would be to fly F-16s at the 114th in Sioux Falls.

It's crazy to think a couple of years ago I was nervous and like, scared to fly.

So actually, the very first time that I flew I was nervous and I thought I was doing a good job hiding it, she said that I was not. I was very nervous.

Once the nerves kind of got out of my system, I was flying, I was flying, I was taking the reins, getting it done. Landing and taking off, doing the maneuvers.

And it's been good.

It's been a great experience.

People have told me just randomly, like semesters ago, classes that I've had with them that I made their day and that that class wouldn't have been as fun or entertaining or as exciting if you weren’t in there.

I would like to hope that I can make a difference, even if it's small. The sheer knowledge that comes out of here is incredible.

And I think that says a lot about SDSU’s aviation program, and it's a great experience, to know that the puzzle pieces are falling into place and how far I've come, in just three years.

Yeah. It's exciting.

My name is Amy Verhulst.

I graduated from SDSU in 2013.

I got my degree in Early Childhood Education

with the kindergarten endorsement, and I am currently a kindergarten teacher

at Volga, South Dakota at the Sioux Valley School District.

And I was recently named the 2025 South Dakota Teacher of the Year.

I knew at a very young age that I wanted to go into teaching.

I growing up in the Parkston community.

I had the opportunity to get the best of the best teachers year after year.

The kids are the best. I mean, I come to school every day because of them.

And when we're in our element and our environment and our classroom,

magic happens. Every time that they overcome a challenge and they show resilience and they grow in their academics, or they grow in their personal development.

I want more like, what else can we do?

What's next? What's the next goal?

It's definitely what fills my cup and it brings me back to school every day.

When I walked across the stage at SDSU,

I knew in my heart that I'd picked the right career.

During my studies at SDSU, I just knew that

this was the perfect choice for me and that I found my passion.

I really enjoyed the preschool lab.

I thought that was a really, great experience.

And it was a real life experience, because once you get out into a school, you're not working by yourself.

I'm very excited to be the South Dakota Teacher of the Year, and I hope that I can share my message with, current educators, future educators, share with families and just other school districts, too, that, change in education is scary.

It's hard and it's a lot of work, but it's so worth it for those kids. I told my students I was like, really

this award is about you guys because you’re, you're the ones doing the hard work and you're the ones showing the success and the growth.

And so really, this award is about celebrating all of those students that, I've had an impact on, but really, they've made a bigger impact on me.