February 19, 2020

Students sell Watford City

By Ashleigh Plemper
Farmer Staff Writer

What better way to keep people in Watford City than making them want to stay. Well, that’s a question that the Watford City High School Student Ambassadors Program of Watford City is always improving their answer on. Since 2018, a group of 25 students have been sharing their journey and experience with employees of different oil field-based companies around North Dakota in an attempt to warm them up to the idea of bringing their families and putting roots down in Watford City.
“I hear so many people say they wouldn’t be the person that they are today if it weren’t for North Dakota,” says Pat Bertagnolli, founder of the Watford City High School student ambassador program.
And it would be something Bertagnolli would realize for himself too as he began falling in love with Watford City.
“In my opinion, anyone who leaves North Dakota, doesn’t know North Dakota,” Bertagnolli says. “We have all these jobs here and the question is  did they know what the school could do for their son or daughter? The answer is ‘no’ because otherwise, they wouldn’t have left.”
Bertagnolli says it then becomes the community’s responsibility to bridge the gap.

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