Dhaivyd Hilgendorf Library Media Specialist, Special Events Coordinator and Volunteer Manager

Dhaivyd has worked at FSM since 1997. He has a B.A. in international relations from University of Minnesota and a B.A. in secondary education in social studies from San Francisco State University. He is a Master of Library and Information Science, earned from St. Catherine University, and is certified as a School Library Media Specialist with the State of Minnesota.

Dhaivyd grew up as an active member of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting, and attended Scattergood Friends School for his high school years. He spent five years studying education and the rhythm instruments of India and Egypt in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he taught Spanish and social studies. He also played percussion in the Straw Coyotes, a Bay Area folk music group. He then taught English in South Korea, and traveled throughout much of Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent before settling back in Minnesota.

Dhaivyd is an FSM parent and lives six blocks from Friends School. He received his Master’s degree in Library and Information Science at Saint Catherine University and his School Library Media Specialist Certification from the State of Minnesota in 2009. In 2005, he received the Peggy Johnson [Library] Collection Development Scholarship Award.

“All people have unique gifts to offer the planet. It is my role as a teacher to recognize these gifts and encourage students to embrace them and share them with an open heart. One reason I love the environment at Friends School is because we all have input into the decisions that are made, so we stand united behind them once we make them. It is a refreshing change from the hierarchical decision-making processes that dominate our culture.”