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DOWAGIAC — Greg Blomgren is home, in more ways than one.

The Dowagiac resident – and former Dowagiac Union High teacher and basketball coach – has returned to the district in the role of its new superintendent. Blomgren assumed the role July 1 and replaces Jonathan Whan, who retired after serving the district for five years.

“It’s been something in my professional career that I’ve been seeking for a while,” Blomgren said. “There’s no better place than being here.” 

Blomgren graduated from Grand View College in 1996 where he played three years of college basketball. He earned his teaching certification from the University of Wisconsin at Parkside in 1999. He has served as principal of St. Joseph High School since 2016 and has been with the district since 2009, serving in roles such as the Dean of Students, Assistant Principal and head boys basketball coach. Prior to that, he spent six years with Dowagiac Union Schools as a biology teacher and boys basketball coach, including spending one season as coach of both the boys and girls teams. He currently lives in Sister Lakes.

“I feel like I have a good pulse on what this community has to offer and how I can best support the schools and the school community,” he said. “I just felt that there are some really great people here. The pride that the community has, what they do and how they operate and the school district is a big part of that. Being the school district here in town, we have a lot of responsibility. I think having been here before and knowing what this town is all about and what the people expect, I can bring some of those things to Dowagiac.”

Blomgren emphasized that when he left the district in 2009, he did not leave unhappy with his position. 

“I think some of the conversation about how I left was a falsehood,” he said. “It was a made-up story that I left because I wasn’t happy and that could not have been further from the truth. The opportunity to go to St. Joe was for me to get into administration. I left Dowagiac as a teacher, I went to St. Joe to be the dean of students and coach basketball.”

For Blomgren, his time in St. Joseph helped prepare him for this position.

“Had I not gotten those 13 years of experience in administration, I might not be sitting here today as the superintendent of Dowagiac Union Schools, so I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I had to go to St. Joe. It really sets the bar in a lot of ways for Southwest Michigan and their academics. I think community support there is tremendous and expectations are high. I learned a lot during that time, which I think has prepared me well for coming back to Dowagiac and leading the district here. I wouldn’t have traded it – I didn’t necessarily want to leave Dowagiac but it was an opportunity for professional growth for me and that’s what it was all about.”

While Blomgren looks back fondly on his time as a Dowagiac teacher and coach, he realizes the district has changed. His goal as superintendent is not to reinvent the district but to hone in on the points of pride the community has and continue to grow CTE and STEM programs to help retain families and bring people into the district.

“I think for me to come in here and say I know what the school district’s all about would not be accurate because I knew that it’s changed,” he said. “I think in this first year, it’s really just going to be absorbing everything and the growth in the CTE programs is a focal point for this District. I want to understand those programs and understand what the needs are of our school, community, our kids and our parents to grow programs to meet the needs of all of our students and all of our families here in Dowagiac. The ultimate goal is to make sure that every student that comes to our school district has opportunities that they want to pursue and if we can’t offer them here, how can we partner with SMC or other tech centers or school districts and provide those opportunities for our kids? We don’t want to limit families or students here in this community because of what we can’t provide or what we can’t offer so we want to figure out ways that we can and that’ll be how we move forward. 

“I’m just going to watch, listen and learn here over the first year and really see where our strengths are and where our areas of growth could be and then we’ll start to really push for things here.”

Returning to the district, Blomgren looks forward to creating new relationships with the community while building on relationships made during his previous stint.

“I’ve noticed that a lot of those students and former players that are here now have reached that age in their life where they’re having their own families and they’re settling down here,” he said. “For them to see a familiar face leading the district, it kind of gives them the confidence that things are going to go in the right direction. I’m hoping that we can retain all of those families and all of those former students and players and that they’ll want to stay here and help us continue to lead Dowagiac in a positive direction.”

For Blomgren, choosing to return to a district that has provided her with a treasure trove of knowledge and experiences was only natural.

“I’m just looking forward to working with (the community) in a different capacity than when I was here the first time,” he said. “I know a lot of good people here – employees, community members. I feel like there’s a lot of great people here who just have to be put in positions to allow them to do the work that they know how to do.”