MINOT, ND – Brady Tofteland, a sophomore at Westhope Public School, spent the day outside of the classroom and inside the day-to-day of SRT Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Cassidy Hjelmstad.

Westhope students got the opportunity to job shadow area professionals of their choice thanks to the Choice Ready Grant provided by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. Tofteland chose Hjelmstad, a Newburg native.

“When you have the option to shadow a CEO at a large company, you don’t turn it down,” Tofteland said. While he has a couple of years before he graduates high school, he considers his interests in things like hunting and video games when it comes to thinking of future job opportunities. He has a piqued interest in wildlife biology, but also said he was excited to learn about what a CEO is, what the job entails, and what sort of preparation goes into reaching a position like that.

The day included a rundown of all things SRT, cooperative principles, a tour of office headquarters on North Broadway and the SRT Network Operations Center in downtown Minot, and a look at the many responsibilities of Cassidy Hjelmstad.

There is nothing worse than grabbing your phone and seeing 10% remaining on the battery when there is no charger in sight. Here are a few battery-saving tips to get you through in a pinch:

1. Turn the screen brightness down.

2. Turn off apps running in the background.

3. Turn off location services, Bluetooth, and wi-fi if you aren’t using them.

4. Turn on low-power mode.

5. Turn off notifications temporarily.

6. In a serious pinch, turn on airplane mode.

Some general tips to prolong the life of your phone’s battery include:

1. Check battery usage in settings to see which apps are using excess battery.

2. Avoid full and overnight charging. Charging to 90% and not leaving your phone charging all through the night can preserve the life of your phone’s battery.

3. Keeping the battery between 20% and 90% is a general rule of thumb for maintaining a battery’s life.

4. Turn your phone off when it is charging.

January 28 is Data Privacy Day. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of digital privacy and educate on how to properly protect your data and privacy online. Here are five helpful tips to keep your online data and privacy protected from the bad guys who try to steal your information:

1. Don’t Use Repeat Passwords

Avoid using the same password for every site in which you have an account. This way, if one password is comprised, the bad actors won’t be able to access your information on other sites.

2. Manage Your Passwords

Using a secure Password Manager app can help protect your data and provide added convenience. You only need to remember one main password or pin to access your other ultra-secure passwords within the Password Manager.

3. Secure Accounts with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

This simple additional step can make a huge difference when protecting yourself online. Multi-factor authentication can require a text or email to be sent to registered contact information that acts as a second layer of defense.

4. Avoid Social Media Quizzes

While these personality quizzes can be fun and the results can be easily shared with your social media friends, some of these quizzes lead you to another website by hackers as a way to steal your personal information. Not all online quizzes do this, but sometimes it can be hard to tell which quizzes are safe. When in doubt, avoid social media quizzes altogether.

5. Clear Your Cookies

These are different than the delicious kind you eat. While cookies are not always bad, it’s a good idea to regularly clear them in your browser. This is especially the case for unencrypted web sites or sites with suspicious cookies you may not know are there. Cookies also take up space, albeit a small amount, but this can add up over time and slow down your computer. Each browser, such as Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, has a slightly different settings layout so make sure to look up how to clear cookies for your specific browser.