Hello everyone! My name is Cole Knippling and I am very excited to be the new 6-12 principal for the Parkston School District. My family and I look forward to the opportunity to get to know everyone in the Parkston Community. My wife, Amy, is a Physical Therapist at Dakota Physical Therapy in Mitchell and we have 4 kiddos that keep us very busy! Kennedy is 11 and will be heading into 6th grade next year. Louie is 8 years old and will be heading into 3rd grade next year. Our 4-year-old, Kirby, will be heading into Begindergarten. Last, but don’t tell him he’s the least!!! Our little man, Augie, is 2 ½ and loves everything involving a ball!
As for me, I am entering my 16th year in education. I grew up on a cattle ranch in Buffalo County and graduated from Chamberlain High School in 2002. I completed my undergraduate studies at Mount Marty while playing both Basketball and Baseball during my time there. After Mount Marty, Amy and I moved to Elk Point. I spent my first 11 years in education teaching and coaching at EP-J before making the move to Mitchell for the past 4 years. I have taught High School Math for all of my 15 years and have coached just about every sport you could think of at one point in time or another! My main sport was basketball. I was the head boys coach for 9 years at EP-J and I was the head girls coach at Mitchell for the past 3 years. I have been working on my Master’s in Educational Administration at DWU over the past 15 months and this will be my first job as a principal! I am looking forward to the new challenge and am excited that it comes in a great school and community like Parkston. See you all soon!