Born and raised in Windom Murray’s life has always been anchored in small town Minnesota. His father was a high school social studies and driver education teacher. His mother was a business teacher, social worker and small business owner. Murray has lived in Beardsley since 1979 where he got his first teaching job.
Murray is married to Cindy and like Murray she has served the community in many ways. Cindy has been a music teacher, speech coach, postal worker, 4-H leader, 4-H judge, music judge, musician, and church treasurer. She is also a passionate gardener. They have three children and two grandchildren.
Learning is an important part of Murray’s life. He has a Master of Education degree in School Counseling from the University of Southern Mississippi, a Bachelor of Science (Teaching) degree in Social Studies, Driver Education, and Coaching from Mankato State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Law Enforcement from Mankato State College.
He began his career in Beardsley teaching social studies, driver education, coaching football and girls’ basketball. For the next ten years he taught in the Beardsley-Browns Valley schools. When that school pairing ended he moved to Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley as a school counselor and social studies teacher for one year. In 1995 he was hired as school counselor at Breckenridge and where he spent the next 21 years. He retired from Breckenridge in 2016 after 37 years in education. He continues to teach driver education in Chokio-Alberta.
Murray currently serves as Government Relations Co-Chair of the Minnesota School Counselors Association and the Chair of the Minnesota State ACT Council. He is past President of the Minnesota School Counselors Association and the West Central School Counselors Association. He also served as a member of the North Dakota State College of Science Enrollment Services Advisory Board. He’s been honored as Teacher of the Year at Beardsley-Browns Valley High School, Pheasant Conference Coach of the Year in Boys Basketball, and West Central School Counselor Association Counselor of the Year.
Murray’s current professional memberships include the American School Counselors Association, Minnesota School Counselors Association, West Central School Counselors Association, Minnesota Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, National Education Association, Education Minnesota, and the Positive Coaching Alliance.
One of Murray’s recent accomplishments came from a team effort with members from several organizations. The result was a 12 million dollar grant program, “Support Our Students”, that passed with bipartisan support in the Minnesota legislature. The grant allowed 77 schools in 36 school districts to hire: 40 school counselors, 21 school social workers, 7 chemical dependency counselors, 6 school psychologists, and 3 school nurses with 52% of the grants going to schools outside the 7-county metro area. The team that worked on this grant included members of the Minnesota School Counselors Association, the Minnesota School Social Workers Association, the School Nurse Organization of Minnesota, the Minnesota Association of College Admission Counselors, the National Alliance on Mental Health Minnesota, and Education Minnesota. Clearly, Murray believes in teamwork.
When Murray takes time for himself you’ll find him enjoying Minnesota’s Great Outdoors. He’s a passionate conservationist who, like many of us, loves to hunt.