Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Seeing people who once visited the theater as children now bringing their grandchildren has been incredibly rewarding.
By Cindy Murphy McMahon
Sara Pilakowski Kleven, DDS’16, took a chance on love 10 years ago. She had no idea she would soon embrace an entire community.
It was 2015. She was completing her third year in the Creighton School of Dentistry. Her dream of becoming a dentist — as a teenager she frequently spent extra time at her orthodontist’s office, shadowing and learning — was almost at hand.
But that spring, she also was making a connection with Riley Kleven, who lived almost 700 miles away, via online dating service eHarmony.
They had not yet met in person, but one day, Riley offhandedly asked Sara to be his date to a wedding in his hometown of Bottineau, North Dakota. The town of just over 2,100 sits about 10 miles from the Canadian border.
She laughs today that she still thinks Riley was half-joking, but Sara had a couple of weeks off from dental school accepted his invitation.
Sara felt so at home and welcomed in Riley’s hometown. The small farming community was “just like Genoa, Nebraska, where I grew up,” she says.
After that weekend, the couple continued their long-distance relationship, and within a few months they were engaged.
Less than a year later, in January 2016, Sara and Riley were married. Sara graduated from the School of Dentistry in May and moved to Bottineau that very day.
The years that followed were a flurry of activity. Their family grew to include two children, Riley farmed, and Sara — who was now Sara Kleven, DDS — practiced dentistry in a nearby town. When the opportunity presented itself, she purchased the dental practice and, in 2022, moved it to Bottineau.
Her love for the town and its people grew as she began building a team for her practice, Oak Creek Dental, and remodeling a downtown office space.
While completing the dental office reconstruction on Main Street, Kleven became aware of a movie theater down the block in need of restoration. Serendipitously, the current owner was looking to sell when she inquired.
The Klevens decided to restore the historic theater not only as a venue for watching movies, but as a community gathering place. They reopened the refurbished and modernized Botno Theater in late 2022.
“Seeing people who once visited the theater as children now bringing their grandchildren has been incredibly rewarding,” Kleven says.
Just one year later, the Klevens announced a new project they had been considering for some time — a preschool and child care center.
The idea for Bottineau Children’s Academy (BCA) took root as Kleven was launching her dental practice. When interviewing and hiring staff, she frequently heard that finding quality child care was a problem. Many people were relying on family members for assistance.
Sara wanted to create a facility that offered more than supervision, supporting the growth and development of children of all ages. BCA opened in the spring of 2024 and enrolls more than 70 children and employs more than 30 staff.
“We now offer on-site speech and language therapy, and have the capacity to add up to 29 more children,” she says. “We’re excited to expand the playground this summer and implement a summer tutoring program for school-age kids.”
She admits balancing the community projects with her busy dental practice, parenting and her husband’s full-time farming is a challenge (in 2025 the couple welcomed an addition to the family, and their boys, ages 7 and 5, now have a baby sister). But “having a dedicated team of wonderful employees and a shared vision” makes it manageable.
“Investing in the community’s future is a passion for both of us, and we are excited to continue growing and finding new ways to contribute to Bottineau.”
The couple’s contributions to the community are appreciated by many, including Mayor Perry Schoenborn.
“Sara and Riley have really called Bottineau home,” says Schoenborn, “and they are very family-oriented. The Bottineau Children’s Academy, for example, is a really big deal. It’s a huge commitment, and it’s going to make a big difference in these kids’ lives, getting an early childhood education.”
He also praises the theater project, saying it’s hard for a small town to support a theater.
“They wanted that opportunity for people, and somehow they’re making it work.”
Not to mention Kleven bringing her dental practice to Main Street. “Anytime a new business comes to a small town, it’s beneficial to everyone.”
Kleven is quick to give credit to Creighton for helping her build the life she has today: “I’ll always be extremely grateful for my education at Creighton and the opportunities I have received because of it.”
She says getting to know classmates from all over the U.S. “was an invaluable experience, and without that, I may have never left my Nebraska comfort zone.
“I also have a deep-rooted passion for giving back, which I believe blossomed more at Creighton and has helped stem the ideas for some of our community projects.”
