The Austin area has enjoyed significant growth in recent years. Employment is growing, and our economy is expanding and diversifying. Austin is a great place to be today. We are working to make it an even better place tomorrow, through the work of community partners involved with Vision 2020 and the Business Friendly Committee.
Austin Daily Herald
4 Progress 2016
PUBLISHER Jana Gray
Community
24. Blooming Prairie: Stix of a community 28. Rose Creek: Rosels honor son’s memory with toys 30. Mower County Mentoring: Positive role models 32. Jay C. Hormel Nature Center: Team looks ahead 36. City of Austin: Opening the door to growth
Sports 38. 40. 44. 46.
Space to grow: Facilities offer boosts for athletes Hayfield: Sophomores look to harvest potential Alex Kinnear: Trap shooting is right on target Coaches: AHS grads making careers on the sidelines
Business
50. Austin’s anchors: Spam Museum, new Hy-Vee priming the future 52. McGough: Construction firm leading 4 projects 54. Dexter: Q&A with Randy Breitbarth of the Oasis Bar & Grill 56. Brownsdale: Homes away from home 58. Lyle: A silver gift 6o. Hormel: Promoting brands through experience 62. SBDC: One business at a time
Faith
64. The Ravenhorsts: Hope in Haiti 66. Tara Mizrachi: Comfort through Psalms 68. Shari Mason: Meditating on the word
Education
72. Robotics: Teams gear into growth 74. Austin Public Schools: Engaging in technology 76. Grand Meadow: Growth for the future
Agriculture
78. CHS: Lessons in the soil 82. Riverland: Growing a program
Faces 84. 88. 90. 92. 96. 97. 98. 99.
LeRoy: Aaron Hungerholt wears many hats Adams: Peter Torkelson was born to run Lee Aase: Mayo continues social interaction Kelly Nesvold: Fit to fund causes Steve Kime: Pedal power Frank Bridges: Back in the classroom Q&A with Quin Brunner Q&A with Sheri Dankert
Through the Years
100. The Salvation Army and The YMCA
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jason Schoonover Jenae Hackensmith Jordan Gerard Eric Johnson Rocky Hulne PHOTOGRAPHER Eric Johnson ART GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Susan Downey Colby Hansen Eric Johnson Jason Schoonver SALES & PROMOTION ADVERTISING MANAGER Heather Ryks SALES REPRESENTATIVES LeAnn Fischer Brenda Landherr Merry Petersen
Progress 2016
What’s inside:
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8. Jaimie Timm: A love of history 10. SMART: Transit authority serving more riders 12. Habitat for Humanity: Building through partnerships 16. The Hormel Institute: A lively addition 18. Vision 2020: Pushing toward the future 20. Austin Utilities: New facility, more benefits
Austin Daily Herald
Organizations
EDITORIAL EDITOR Jason Schoonover
Curbside Services Curbside services for recycling pickup (twice per month) are available for residents in the cities of Austin, Mapleview, Brownsdale, Grand Meadow, Adams, Taopi and LeRoy (within city limits). Visit our website at www.co.mower. mn.us/Recycling-HHW.htm to see the curbside schedule. How do I sign up for recycling and how much does it cost? Come to the MC Recycling Center (1111 8th Ave. NE) Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday from 1-5 PM to pick up three bins and be given a brief overview of the program. Recycling fees are included in the taxes paid by Mower County residents. As long as you are a resident of Mower County there is no additional cost to you. Why should I recycle? We have to do something with the garbage we produce. American’s produce on average 1600 lbs. of garbage per person every year - about 4.4 lbs. per day Acceptable materials Newspaper, magazines, white office paper, corrugated cardboard, pressed board (ex: cereal box), tin cans, aluminum cans, glass bottles & jars, plastic bottles with or . Visit our website at www.co.mower.mn.us/Recy cling-HHW.htm for more information WE DO NOT accept the following wastes Waxed cardboard (ex: fruit box), frozen food containers made of paper (ex: frozen pizza box), juice container made of paper, window glass or mirrors, ceramic glass (ex: coffee cup), any plastic not in bottle form through , no styrofoam of any kind, no plastic bags of any kind. Drop-off for recycling We do have a drop off area at the Recycling Center located at 1111 8th Ave. NE in Austin. Questions/Further information www.co.mower.mn.us/recycling.html or come to the Mower County Recycling office located at 1111 8th Ave. NE, Austin, MN 55912 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday from 1-5 PM or Call (507) 437-9551.
Austin Daily Herald
6 Progress 2016
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Progress 2016
“Once the acquisition process was complete and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approvals were given in 2015, the real work began,” noted Roger Weness, Chair of the Freeborn-Mower Board of Directors. “Our business models were totally different. Freeborn-Mower is a cooperative that is owned and controlled by those using its services, that is, the consumers. We call them member-owners. On the other hand, Alliant Energy is an investor-owned utility governed by stockholders under a business model designed to generate a profit for those stockholders. In contrast, our electric cooperative’s business model is not-for-profit. We charge what it costs and give the rest back to the member-owners through our system of Capital Credits.” “Our exceptional growth means that we are making an extra effort to introduce our new members to the guiding principles of the cooperative business model, as well as the variety of programs and services we offer. We’ve also nearly doubled the size of our staff. We are very happy to have integrated eighteen employees from Alliant Energy, bringing our present workforce to sixty-three.” added Krueger. “The transition has been successful due to the commitment of all employees and our board of directors.” Now six months post-acquisition, Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services is well posed for the challenges and opportunities that will face the electric utility industry. Weness summed up the efforts of the past few years by saying, “Essentially, the completed acquisition means that it’s a new day for the cooperative way. Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services has entered a new era.”
Austin Daily Herald
In the 80-year history of Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services, the year 2015 marks a major turning point for the local electric distribution cooperative. On July 31st, Freeborn-Mower welcomed nearly 16,000 new member-owners, nearly quadrupling the number of accounts it serves. The unprecedented growth of the Albert Lea-based electric cooperative resulted from the acquisition of Minnesota service territory and assets from Alliant Energy. “This was the single most effective way for our electric cooperative to grow its membership and secure our ability to be a relevant player in the electric utility business for decades to come,” explained Jim Krueger, Freeborn-Mower President & CEO. “Completing this acquisition has strengthened our cooperative and created efficiencies and economies of scale. At the same time, Alliant Energy was willing to divest itself of its holdings in the state. It was an optimal point where the best interest of each of the parties aligned.” The process actually began in 2012, with steps that led to twelve Minnesota electric cooperatives joining to form Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperative (SMEC) as a single contact point for the purpose of offering a proposal to acquire the service territory and assets of Alliant Energy’s Minnesota holdings. “The cooperative service territories intertwined with that of Alliant Energy, making this a logical fit. In September 2013, SMEC reached an acquisition agreement with Alliant Energy,” explained Krueger. “As part of the SMEC acquisition, Freeborn-Mower integrated the largest number of Alliant Energy accounts into our cooperative membership.”
A love of history
Jaimie Timm works very closely with the items and records at the Mower County Historical Society. Her small office also serves as a storage area.
MCHS curator Jaimie Timm has a passion for history By Jenae Hackensmith Photos by Eric Johnson
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Austin Daily Herald
8 Progress 2016
aimie Timm has worked at the Mower County Historical Society as the curator for almost four years — a dream job for a small-town girl who hoped to immerse herself in a local town and local stories. “My dream job was to be a curator in a local historical society, so believe it or not, this is my dream job,” Timm said. Timm, originally from Appleton, Wisconsin, spends her days looking through Mower County’s artifacts. She has always been interested in history, even since grade school. “I was always that nerdy kid in school that when we would go on a field trip to a museum and everybody would be bored, I would be, like, glued to the text panels, reading and looking at everything,” Timm laughed. Since the historical society only has about three people on staff, everyone has to do multiple things during their job, which Timm said makes every day different. In the summer and up through the Mower County Fair, the staff spends a lot of time working on exhibits. After the fair and through the fall and winter months, employees have a lot to catch up on, such
ABOVE: As the Mower County Historical Society commits its assortment of items to an electric archive, staff is required to go through an antiquated system of writing everything by hand. BELOW: Jaimie Timm, curator at the Mower County Historical Society, commits items to archive using a computer program.
as processing new items, working with collections, entering things into the computer, marking items with numbers, photographing items and more. At the end of September, the Fall Harvest Celebration also requires attention. “We all do a little bit of everything, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to work at a local historical society,” Timm said. Because of the small staff, the historical society relies heavily on volunteers, and Timm said there are at least 75 volunteers during the fair. “That’s how we accomplish a lot of what we do, with all our volunteers,” she said. Timm’s family is based in Wisconsin, and her husband’s family is from New Ulm, so Austin was a nice middle ground for the couple. Before Timm started, one person was doing everything, which was too much for one person to handle. Yet Timm said there was only about three weeks of backlog when she started, which isn’t too bad for a historical society. One of her biggest worries when she started was keeping herself busy — since the position was new, Timm had to figure out what her job duties included on her own. Yet she quickly learned keeping busy would not be a problem, and now said some days there aren’t enough hours to get it all done, especially around the fair. Since starting, she has helped create the exhibit rotation schedule, which is what brought about two new exhibits in 2015. Timm already has ideas for future exhibits. “I’ve got exhibits planned for 2020 and beyond,” she said. Timm curated a World War II exhibit for the 2014 fair and the “Buggy Rides and Parlor Visits, a History of Courting” exhibit which was on display during the 2015 fair.
Jaimie Timm works from her tiny office deep in the Mower County Historical Society.
Recent activity
Mower County Historical Society projects: The staff hasn’t sat idle these past years. The historical society has done several upgrades in late 2015, early 2016, including: —Work to the Collections Building —New bathrooms in the Pioneer Building —Raising the Kehret Chapel to a higher foundation —Updating the heating ventilation and air conditioning units —Planning to upgrade the security system in 2016
Progress 2016
Age: 28 Current town: Austin Hometown: Appleton, Wisconsin Fun fact or hobby: She loves going to antique stores and finding new uses for old things (her cat has fancy glass bowls that sits on a glass relish tray). She also collects vintage Pyrex and cooks with it.
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Jaimie Timm
Austin Daily Herald
She’s also helped implement a cleaning schedule for each building, which takes a big portion of time as things need to be cleaned in very specific ways. Timm joked the process would be much easier if she could use bleach and pick things up with her bare hands, but those methods can damage artifacts and shorten their lifespans. Timm said the Collections and Exhibits Committee has also taken on a greater role since she started, doing more with exhibits and projects that involve the collection, and more. “We’re trying to do what’s best for the collection within the resources that we have, within the time that we have, and just trying to teach people about why we’re doing what we’re doing,” Timm said. “Yes it seems crazy, but I promise, we’re not crazy.” Timm earned her Bachelor’s Degree in History in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and completed three internships as an undergraduate student. “That was some of my most valuable training, really,” she said. “You learn so much more with hands-on training.” She went to graduate school in Boone, North Carolina, for public history, studying to work anywhere that history was put into a public format. Timm learned much of how to present history in those classes, and explained since people learn in different ways, she had to learn how to present information to the public so the common person could understand. “I still see it as my way of teaching history, but I don’t stand in front of a classroom every day,” she said. “I really like working with objects, but when I’m able to connect those object to a local story or something in state history, or even on the national level, my absolute favorite part is making those connections, bringing it all together,” Timm added. P
A SMART system
Transit authority serving more riders after 2014 merger Story by Jason Schoonover, Photos by Eric Johnson
Austin Daily Herald
Melinda Estey told a story of a 90-year-old area woman who only recently retired. She was able to be independent and work into her 90s because she didn’t drive though she could get where she needed through the Southern Minnesota Rural Transit or SMART. Estey, SMART’s transit manager, has heard hundreds of stories like the 90-year-old woman. Without bus services, she couldn’t have kept working and doing what she loved. “There are hundreds of stories like that where, without the bus, people would not be able to continue that independent lifestyle,” Estey said. While many may associate public transportation with large cities like Rochester, it’s an important part of communities like Austin, Albert Lea, Owatonna and now Waseca. Around 2012, the Minnesota Department of Transportation started work for public transit entities to consolidate and better work together. Eventually, Austin Mower County Area Transit (AMCAT), Albert Lea Transit and Steele County Area Transit (SCAT) merged in 2014 to form SMART, which is under the umbrella of Cedar Valley Services. The three agencies consolidated to reduce costs, pool resources, and provide more extensive services to the areas served. At the start of this year, SMART added Waseca County, which was the only remaining county in Minnesota without public transit, though it had a senior travel program that mimicked public transit but received no funding. Estey said early returns have been positive, and the community of Waseca has been receptive. “We have no future designs to go any further,” Estey said. Before Waseca joined, SMART provided almost 200,000 rides a year in the three counties.
for those clients. That’s why Estey said running SMART fits with Cedar Valley’s mission. While SMART receives funding geared toward seniors, low income and disabled individuals, the transit is fully open to the public and it’s not geared toward anyone in particular. “It’s fully open to the public, first-come, firstserved,” Estey said. The rides are important to the public. Some say they come to communities like Austin to retire because the public transportation offers a chance to give up their car while still having the means to get to doctor’s appointments and to pick up groceries. “Some seniors have standing hair appointments once a week,” Estey said. For the most part, Estey said their passengers are people who don’t drive, whether it’s for a medical reason or a personal decision to not drive. The buses feature a bit of a social network, and Estey described it as a family feel where the riders and drivers all get to know each other. They’ve even instigated wellness checks for people who were frequent riders who may not be riding as often for some reason. While Austin, Albert Lea and Owatonna are comparable communities, Austin has roughly double the ridership. Austin boasts 80,000 to 90,000 rides a year, while Albert Lea and Owatonna see about 45,000 to 50,000 rides a year, according to Estey.
Driving ridership
10 Progress 2016
About 48 SMART employees operate a fleet of 31 buses and a van, which is the first van that’s allowed by MnDOT for a transit authority. Cedar Valley Services does structured workshops, training, and helps secure jobs for disabled adults, so transportation is a key hurdle
Melinda Estey stands in the garage of SMART Transit.
Estey credited the community with Austin’s high ridership. “It’s huge community support, it’s been really great initiatives over the years from partner agencies in the community,” she said. In fact, Austin’s ridership led SMART to purchase a larger bus in 2015, but it hasn’t hit the streets yet. Austin also has a work bus that operates up to 12 hours a day, which makes Austin the only SMART community with a bus on the road in the middle of the night five days a week. “That’s a significant source of positive partnership,” Estey said. Hormel Foods Corp. and Quality Pork Processors are two of the biggest beneficiaries of those services, and the work routes are a hot commodity in Austin. “It’s very high demand,” Estey said. “We almost always have a waiting list for people to get on that bus.” With their grant this past year, they asked for an additional hour on the work route to provide more transportation, which they received. They’re not at the point of adding an additional bus. AMCAT also developed preschool routes through a grant with the United Way and the Parenting Resource Center, and those continue today and are being modeled in Albert Lea and Owatonna now too. In town, demand response rides cost $2. A
ride outside the city limits costs $2.50. Route buses are $1.50, but there’s also a $30 unlimited monthly pass. With an unlimited route pass, the demand response rides cost only 50 cents. There is limited availability for countywide rides in Mower and Freeborn counties because of the high population of ridership in the cities.
Routes
Another big component is reaching out in the community for educational purposes. Estey jokes that she still has friends who go, “Oh, we have buses?” “We’re constantly trying to educate people on the availability and how to ride, the cost effectiveness, the benefits to the community,” Estey said. “The more people we can get on the bus, the more we’re helping, the more we’re helping the community and the environment.” Rural routes is still a newer concept to rural transit, so SMART is still training people on how the routes work. “The routes give us a huge ability to help more people,” she said. “They’re very efficient, they’re very cost effective. No one is getting rich in public transit. We’re a nonprofit, and we try to be really conscientious stewards of that money and that funding.” Austin sees much traffic to and from Mayo Clinic Health System. The community features a Red Route and Purple Route and all are geared toward essential services: employment, medical care, shopping and housing. They also have ridership around Riverland Community College in both Austin and Albert Lea. “Our Red Route is extremely busy and well used, which is great,” Estey said. Route buses stop at the same time every hour, so riders don’t need to schedule rides ahead of time. The routes also offer a three-block deviation for people who live or work within three blocks, meaning drivers can pickup or drop someone off three blocks from the route location if the rider calls at least an hour ahead of time. Route buses cost $1.50, but there’s also a $30 unlimited monthly pass. All services are entirely open to the public and on a first-come, first-serve basis, but SMART encourages people to arrange demand response rides as far in advance as possible for things like doctor’s appointments.
Austin Purple Route
Hourly 7 a.m.-9 p.m. hourly on Monday to Friday Hourly 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday .................................................................................................... Time 1. Transit Center, 2801 W. Oakland Ave........................................:00 2. Mandolin, 203 31st St. SW........................................................:02 3. Meadows West, 300 27th St. SW..............................................:05 4. West Manor (Bus Shelter), 301 27th St. SW .............................:06 5. Banfield, 301 17th St. SW..........................................................:09 6. Walgreens, 1420 W. Oakland Ave..............................................:11 7. Riverland College - East (Bus Shelter), 1900 8th Ave. NW ......:15 8. Key Apartments (Bus Shelter) ...................................................:17 9. St. Augustines, 405 4th Street NW............................................:20 10. Mayo Health Systems, 1000 1st Drive NW..............................:26 11. Court Yard, 310 2nd Ave. NE ..................................................:31 12. Chauncey, 300 1st Ave. NE ....................................................:34 13. Twin Towers, 200 1st Ave. NE .. ...............................................:36 14. Jim’s Marketplace, 301 11th St. NE..........................On Request 15. Lang Bus Shelter, on 8th St. NE north of 5th Ave...................:43 16. Community Learning Center, 912 1st Ave. NE .......................:44 17. Oakland Ave. & 4th St. SW..................................................... :47 18. 4th St. SW & 9th Ave. SW ......................................................:49 19. Sterling Main Street, 1305 1st Ave. SW....................On Request
Austin Red Route
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Progress 2016
Hourly from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday to Friday Hourly from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday Hourly from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday .................................................................................................... Time 1. Transit Center 2801 W. Oakland Ave.........................................:00 2. Twin Towers, 200 1st Ave. NE .. .................................................:07 3. Chauncey, 300 1st Ave. NE.......................................................:10 4. Court Yard, 310 2nd Ave. NE.....................................................:12 5. Library - On Street, 323 4th Ave. NE.........................................:14 6. Cedars of Austin, 700 1st Drive NW..........................................:19 7. Pickett Place, 808 1st Drive NW................................................:21 8. Mayo Health Systems, 1000 1st Drive NW................................:26 9. Cedar Valley Services, 2111 4th St. NW......................On Request 10. Walmart, 1000 18th Ave NW....................................................:31 11. Shopko, 1209 18th Ave. NW...................................................:35 12. Hy-Vee, 1001 18th Ave NW.....................................................:37 13. Target Area, 1700 17th St. NW................................................:41 14. Key Apartments - Bus Shelter, 900 14th St. NW.....................:46 15. AMC West / Walgreens, 1420 W. Oakland Ave.......................:50
Austin Daily Herald
In 2014, SMART started using a routing “We’re spending a lot of taxpayer monsoftware that arranges customer needs for ey, so we definitely want to make sure that a date and time, and the system will show we’re good stewards of that and do our if they have availability on the busing to due diligent research,” Estey said. “But it meet the need. If they can’t initially, they makes changes a little bit challenging.” can tell the customer what a better time Housing for buses is a another big chalmight be. lenge in all the communities. Freeborn County features one bus priEstey said they’re also reaching their marily dedicated to demand response. capacity in their building on the far west Mower County has two buses dedicated side of Austin on Oakland Avenue. When to demand response from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. all the buses are in, there’s only a few feet “It’s anything and everything,” Estey of space. said. SMART has an office off of Myers Road The only inter-county route is a dialysis near the Industrial Park in Albert Lea, and route on Monday, it leases space in Wednesday and Owatonna and SMART staff by county: Friday. uses space at the Freeborn County.........................................8 fairgrounds in Mower County...........................................20 Challenges Waseca. Steele County............................................11 Though Estey said Waseca County...........................................5 Looking to the SMART has been future, they’re Operations Managers (across counties).....4 successful since the Total..........................................................48 always on top of merger, there are state and federal still challenges. legislation since “The fact that we’ve been able to intheir funding could change with the difcrease our service hours with our MnDOT ferent transportation packages. They’re a grant, it’s a blessing and a curse,” she said. member of the Minnesota Public Transit “Because there’s a lot of work that has to Association, which lobbies and keeps their go into proving the need to add services.” members informed and active as to what is SMART’s operating budget is 80 percent coming up. state and federally funded, while its capital Their budget is also heavily dependent expenditures are 85 percent funded by on performance, which makes safety and state and federal government. Due to the customer relations even more importfunding split, they’re required to bring in ant. They’re always looking to be more 15 percent of their operating budget in efficient, save fuel, and to ensure they’re each community through grants and fares. meeting the needs of the community. However, they strive to keep fares low so it’s “We’re continuous improvement based an affordable option for their customers. philosophy with our system,” she said. They are always looking for ways to imWhile she appreciates that as a taxpayer, prove services; however, the annual grant she said it can be exhausting as they plan cycle can be challenging because they’re the grant requests. typically only able to adjust services once a “Specifically the fact that we have full year. All the changes must be defined and buses running pretty regularly is a huge turned in by August, which can make it dif- testament to the success and need of the ficult when the need arises. program,” Estey said. “We have a lot of They also need to define and prove the people that fully depend on us and we take need for the changes. that very seriously.” P
Habitat for Humanity has seen an increase in projects thanks to community teamwork By Jason Schoonover Photos by Eric Johnson
Austin Daily Herald
12 Progress 2016
Through the 2015-16 school year, Riverland Community College students, volunteers and soon-to-be homeowners have all been hard at work building a home in northeast Austin. As Habitat’s Executive Director Brigitte Fisher looked around at Riverland students working on wood floors and walls of the budding home on a chilly November afternoon, she couldn’t help but be excited. “The energy here is amazing,” she said. The Freeborn/Mower Habitat chapter has seen a wave of activity in recent years, whether it’s through building houses, fixing up properties or its ReStore in the Sterling Shopping Center. The work to build its most recent home for Gabait Nagid and Nasra Damin and their family was just the latest example of what’s built the recent success of the Freeborn/Mower Habitat for Humanity: partnerships. “Then big results happen,” Fisher said. “Then you really are starting to make a difference. And that’s what happened with us, ‘We just said, ‘Hey, we can’t do this alone. Who’s with us?’ And then its just been snowballing from there.” The turnaround was perhaps best displayed when the Freeborn Mower/Habitat for Humanity was asked by Habitat International to present at a regional A Brush With Kindness gathering with representatives from many surrounding states. The premise of Freeborn/Mower’s presentation was on how the chapter was able to serve so many families through its home repair programs. Freeborn/Mower leaders also did a statewide webinar on the same topic. “There’s a lot of focus on our affiliate right now, others who are struggling to serve a handful of families wondering how we’re serving 30-plus families,” Fisher said. “The reason for our success has been our partnerships. As soon as you decide, hey, poverty is
a big giant problem and set aside your pride and say, ‘We can’t tackle this on our own,’ you look at who else is concerned [and] come together and partner up.”
CHIPing away at housing issues
When Fisher started with Habitat, she admits the group needed a boost. Community partnerships have provided the boost in both communities. In Austin, it’s Vision 2020’s Community Home Improvement Project, the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Riverland Community College, and smaller partners like many churches, concerned community members and more people. In Freeborn County, Fisher said it’s the United Way, the HRA, Shinefest’s Rocking the Block, which she said is similar to CHIP, and more. When Fisher started, the CHIP program hadn’t yet begun, and the affiliate hadn’t built a house in a year and the group was in a bit of a lull. “We needed a new surge of energy,” Fisher said. “We needed a new spark, and CHIP really was that spark.” CHIP was created in 2013 by Vision
Habitat for Humanity Executive Director Brigitte Fisher talks about habitat’s recent work last year in the group’s most recent build.
2020’s Community Pride and Spirit Committee, Freeborn/Mower Habitat for Humanity and the HRA. CHIP’s goals are to help homeowners preserve their homes by intervening with needed maintenance to improve the overall appearance of homes in Austin and to build connections among residents. CHIP’s 2015 goal was to help 20 families, making for close to 40 homes that have been helped by the volunteer-based program over the last three years. “The biggest changes were we are positively affecting families, and that’s the bottom line is we’re serving more families,” Fisher said. “We have larger support.”
Building projects
Though the home at 1206 Ninth St. NE is habitat’s 22nd home in Austin, it’s the first being built predominantly by Riverland Community College students and their instructors. For many years, Habitat relied on the work of volunteers for building its houses and often had to hire construction contractors to help lead the work. By the end of a projects, Fisher said volunteers were spread
pretty thin by the work required. “We really have struggled with that in the past, with having enough volunteer labor so that we’re not exhausting the volunteers we do have,” she said. But now Riverland is taking the lead and building the house. In past years, Riverland students have helped habitat when they could, but students also built their own house, which they’d sell at the end of the year. Predominantly, Riverland carpentry students are building the house, but some electrical program students help as well for about 16 total students working on the program. For Riverland, the college now doesn’t have to spend as much money on supplies and financing for the house, those come through Habitat. With budget constraints and a dip in enrollment, Riverland carpentry instructor Walt Alms said it means the carpentry program and college doesn’t have to put up financing and the risk that came with eventually selling the house. But that also takes away the potential for future profit. “It’s an excellent opportunity for the students to see a home being built from start to finish,” Alms said. “It’s been a very good, positive project for us this year.” While volunteers are still helping on the project, Riverland has had to ensure that its students and instructors take the lead and that Habitat volunteers aren’t completing work that the students would need to do as part of their learning process. For example, if students need to learn to hang doors, they’d be in trouble if a volunteer completed that work over a weekend. Habitat picks families with a need and an ability to pay. Fisher said one of habitat’s key goals is to address the need for housing, and most new homeowners it works with live in some form of substandard housing, whether its due to overcrowding, poor pluming or heating, or mold. “I think people are looking at us as leaders in the fight against poverty housing,” she said.
But applicants have to be willing to partner, and each applicant has to complete 250 hours on the project — so a husband and wife have to complete 500 hours.
ReStore
Gabait Nagid cleans up at a home at 1206 Ninth St. NE that will ultimately be his. Riverland students are currently renovating the home through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
The plan is that in a few years, habitat leaders want the proceeds from the ReStore to fully fund a build all on its own. Nuckolls said they have a responsibility to address and work toward fixing Austin’s lack of af-
ReStore are both based in Austin, along with the avid support through CHIP, a higher percentage of the work has come in Austin in recent years. But Johnson would like to see it get closer to 50-50 for the towns. “We want to make sure we can get over there and serve them as well,” he said. As with all Habitat’s projects, volunteers and community support will be key. Habitat is taking on a bigger role with Rocking the Block and is working to partner with the United Way and business leaders. “We want to get over there definitely more and the way to do it is to keep on working at it,” Johnson said. In the future, Habitat’s mission will continue to be to bring homes to community and hope, so they want to continue having a big effect on families, neighborhoods and the community as a whole. “We would love to be able to build more houses a year,” Fisher said. “And we’re getting closer to being able to do that, and this partnership is definitely going to be helpful to get us to that.” P
Progress 2016
Goals for the future
fordable housing, and the ReStore will play a key part. Nuckolls also has aggressive goals to boost ReStore’s sales. She wants to reach $250,000 in sales this year and $400,000 in sales in three years, but donations need to keep coming in for that to happen. “The donations have to keep coming in. We’re donor-centered,” she said. Another key will be manpower. ReStore, like habitat, currently has limited staffing levels and are heavily dependent on volunteers. ReStore had been in a warehouse facility, where it wasn’t very accessible and wasn’t climate controlled. CHIP Coordinator Brent Johnson said donor and volunteer support will drive continued success for ReStore. “We’re always trying to get out there to even find more volunteers or more people who want to donate,” he said. Habitat’s other leaders have plenty of hopes for the future. Johnson said they’re hoping to grow their presence in Albert Lea and Freeborn County. Since the offices and
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ing to come,” Fisher said. “So we really put focus on getting in good quality donations.” Habitat prices items low to keep the products flowing through the store. The ReStore mainly carries furniture and other housing and decorative items like cabinets, lighting, plumbing, doors and more. “We’re getting amazing furniture,” Nuckolls said. The ReStore also serves a vital purpose of recycling furniture, and Nuckolls estimated the store has kept 100 tons of furniture out of landfills in its first year at the Sterling Center. Nuckolls is using analytics to grow sales, and she plans to start honing her focus on items that bring ReStore and Habitat more money and that will sell more quickly.
Austin Daily Herald
Another big success for Habitat has been its ReStore, a store that sells used items — mainly building materials and household items — at a lower price with all proceeds going to habitat. The ReStore celebrated its one-year anniversary in its home in the Sterling Shopping Center in December, and all say it’s been a highly successful year. “It’s been phenomenal here,” said Lynn Nuckolls, ReStore’s manager. ReStore moved from a warehouse-type space in northeast Austin to 1415 First Ave. SW in the Sterling Shopping Center, where it opened in December 2014. In its first year, it saw 13,582 transactions as sales jumped from about $30,000 a year to $154,000 a year, according to Nuckolls. “It’s gone wild. People know we’re here,” she said. “People feel safe coming to where we are.” Nuckolls remembers looking at the space when it opened and wondering how she’d fill it. Now she wonders if they’ll have enough space for all the items. ReStore opened about 10 years ago in a corner and just grew, but it was never meant to be a store and wasn’t really successful selling items. “It just wasn’t retail friendly, nor was it ever intended to be,” Fisher said. “It was built just to be a storage warehouse for our construction materials.” Now the focus is on retail and they have a retail space, which she said has made a big difference. At Sterling, the ReStore is more centrally located and accessible to donors and customers alike. They have a donation drop center, and they have the ability to go out and pick up donations. “If you have the stuff, the shoppers are go-
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A lively addition The Hormel Institute’s Live Learning Center continues to take shape as part of the newest expansion.
Hormel Institute’s new Live Learning Center provides more space for sharing research
By Jordan Gerard | Photos by Eric Johnson Inside The Hormel Institute recently, construction workers bustled around the skeleton of the new multipurpose room and put the finishing touches on the auditorium in the new Live Learning Center. The new center is progressing toward June 1-3, the days that will see it open with hosting the seventh China-U.S. Forum on Frontiers of Cancer Research symposium. “It is beautiful and will expand our capacity to perform cutting edge cancer research,” said Gail Dennison, director of development and public relations. “We are so thankful to all who have supported this expansion.”
The $4.5 million Live Learning Center will feature a multipurpose room, stadium-seating auditorium and new technology to help communicate with scientists from around the world. It will also provide adequate room for internal seminars as well as international conferences. The Live Learning Center is part of the Institute’s International Center of Research Technology, which is used in cancer research and also facilitating it, according to Dennison. “The most important part of cancer research is the sharing of information and knowledge,” Dennison said. “Having a space that facilitates the sharing of that knowledge is key because it’s a fundamental part of research.”
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Dean Hogstad of Nietz Electric works on floor lighting in the Live Learning Center at The Hormel Institute.
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The center will also have state of the art communications so the Institute can collaborate and send their information worldwide. In fact, two international research conferences are already scheduled. Along with the China-U.S. Forum on Frontiers of Cancer Research symposium, the International Skin Carcinogenesis Conference is scheduled for Sept. 21-24. “I’m very excited,” Executive Director Dr. Zigang Dong said. “We’ll have a vast capacity for more cancer research.” The Institute is also working out a leasing plan for other organizations in the community, University of Minnesota scientists and other cancer researchers to use the space as well. Along with the conferences, the space is needed for The Institute as well. Currently, the main seminar room, built in 2008, seats about 100 for the Institute’s staff of about 120. The expansion will add another 130 jobs, bringing the grand total of employees to 250 in the next few years. The additional 130 jobs will have a Dr. Zigang Dong, executive director positive economic of The Hormel Institute, stands in impact on Austin, one of the newly completely labs. Dennison said. Those 130 jobs will be created, not competition. People will live here, rent here, buy homes, gas, insurance, groceries and more, so it will be a strong benefit to businesses. “It’s adding jobs that aren’t competing with any other business that’s here,” Dennison said. Though work is pushing ahead on the $4.5 million Live Learning Center, the Institute still needs to bring in an additional $280,000 in fundraising. “We’re doing well but we still need community support,” Dennison said. Donors giving $500 or more will be recognized on a donor wall in the center. Donors over a thousand dollars will be invited to a historic reception at the first conference. “We have donors all over the community, region, country and world, these are people that care about finding answers to cancer so it will be very meaningful for them to partake in the first cancer conference,” Dennison said. P
1VISION Pushing to and past 2020 By Jordan Gerard Greg Siems never has a boring or repetitive day on the job. Siems started last fall as the new director of Vision 2020, and he and the community betterment group have big things ahead, but he’s enjoying the job so far. “There’s no shortage of things going on, emails to write or people to talk to, but that’s what makes it fun,” Siems said. “It’s just such a unique position and unique organization in terms of the impact it’s having on the community, the diversity of all the different projects and that’s the thing that gets me energized is seeing how many other people are involved in wanting to make Austin a better place, so that’s what keeps me going.” When 2020 was formed in April 2012, it set 10 projects to be in motion by the year 2020. Siems said there’s no magic wand that’s going to complete the projects overnight. For example, creating a business friendly environment involves changing the culture of the town, which means the project could go on beyond the year 2020. “For some committees, they’re more abstract,” Siems said. “It’s our role to jumpstart the process to get people thinking about these sorts of things and trying to come up with ideas that will just keep going on into the future.” On the flip side, projects like the Community Recreation Center take a longer time to plan out logistics and funding. “We’re trying to get all the details hammered out because we just want to make sure things get done right,” Siems said. Siems faces a variety of needs and different tasks with people from the different committees needing something or another at some point. He said he just does the best he can to help out where he can and contribute his experience, voice and perspective to what’s going on. Here are a few of the projects Siems and Vision 2020
town. Vision 2020 has been accepting donations of unwanted bikes from the public. Rydjor, with some help from volunteers, then disassemble the bikes, before sending them over to Riverland’s automotive students to be painted red. They are then brought back to the bike shop for additional repairs and reassembly. The bikes will be single-speed and coaster brakes. The committee has plans to place 11 red racks throughout town for Red Bike. Siems said there’s a lot of people from the bike committee volunteering and others in town who are re-assembling them. “If people need a bike to go get groceries or just have fun riding around town, they’ll be able to go just pick them up and use them,” Siems said. “We think it will be great for recreation purposes but also just access to transportation for people who might not necessarily have it.”
Austin Aspires
Greg Siems
Age: 25 Current town: Austin Hometown: Grand Liberty, Iowa Fun fact or hobby: He enjoys basketball and is a big Timberwolves fan. are working on:
Red Bike
By mid-April, Austin should have a program to let people borrow bikes to ride all across Austin. Austin’s Red Bike program is modeled after a program in Willmar, Minnesota. Vision 2020 volunteers are leading the charge with Rydjor Bike Shop and Riverland Community College to provide free bikes utilized around
Austin Aspires set its goals last fall to the community’s vision for better education. Austin Aspires, a nonprofit, formed in 2014 to “improve educational outcomes for all students in Austin.” Though it stemmed from Vision 2020, it’s largely self-sustaining now and is managed by a board of community volunteers. The ultimate goal was to select a few key outcomes the community wants for students so each child is ready to leave school and join the workforce. “We want all students that go to school in Austin and live in our community to have the sky as the limit for what they can achieve in their life,” Austin Aspires Executive Director Jennifer Lawhead said. “To be good citizens, to be healthy and happy productive members of our community. To remove any barriers to their success. Last November, it released five goals the group wants to see in Austin’s schools and also formed action teams to get people involved and spark some innovation for education, Siems said.
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A pick-up game of soccer was one of the many activities taking place during an open house for the structure to showcase was is possible under the dome. Herald file photo
Vision 2020, Austin Public Schools and Austin Parks and Recreation partnered to open and now to maintain the seasonal dome over Art Hass field last year. The idea came from the Community Recreation Committee and a survey it published in 2013 revealing a need for more indoor space for walking, sports teams to use and just recreation in general. Siems said it’s nice for walkers because they can have that space, which may not be heated to 70 degrees but at least they’re not out in the Minnesota winter. It’s also nice for youth sports teams to use during the off-season. “Having an area like that is a huge asset,” Siems said. “You don’t have to try to get into the crowded gyms in town or at worst, travel to Rochester or wherever would have an adequate indoor facility like that.” The dome opened in December and once the weather turns nice this spring, it will be deflated and stored before it eventually returns in the fall. Siems said the dome is nice since it utilizes existing space at the Wescott Athletic Complex. “It’s kind of the best of both worlds because you don’t have to construct this new permanent structure that’s going all year,” Siems said. “We can have it when we need it and when we don’t, it’s somewhere else.”
Community Recreation Center
Despite the opportunities the dome provides, the need for more recreational indoor space is big in Austin, especially during harsh winter months. “People just need more space. We’ve got an active community,” Siems said. “Just in terms of equipment, bigger track, more gym space. It’s not really complicated, it’s just the things that we as a community need for being able to stay fit and active.” Vision 2020’s plan to build a new community recreation center in Austin is perhaps the most anticipated project, the most difficult and most controversial. The community rec center would likely feature an indoor playground, a family aquatic center, community spaces, gyms, a gymnastics facility, workout rooms, a running track and more. The committee has its preferred site: the former downtown Austin Municipal Plant. While the committee and Austin Utilities have the rough terms of a purchase agreement, the deal still needs the blessing of the Austin Utilities board and the Austin City Council. Quin Brunner and Council member Janet Anderson have led a charge to save and restore the power plant, while considering other locations for the rec center. Siems has said a lot of work went into choosing the rec center as the preferred site. The utilities site would allow accessibility for all four corners of town and there’s a lot of downtown businesses that it could connect to.
Future plans after 2020
While Austin is now less than four years from 2020, Vision 2020 shows no signs of slowing down. “We want the momentum to continue past 2020,” Siems said. “There’s really nothing magical about that date in terms of creating all this stuff. We just want, in general, to inspire the community to keep working together in trying to make it a better place. We can create other organizations like Austin Aspires that will last beyond this decade and make them a huge success.” P
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Vision 2020’s Waterways Committee has focused its recent efforts on two main things: flood mitigation and recreation. Seems said flood mitigation is going good. The committee has projects to start on once spring rolls around and the weather is more agreeable. But the committee is working toward several larger projects. Last year, Vision 2020 and the Cedar River Watershed District received a $3.2 million grant from the Hormel Foundation for the Accelerated Results Plan, which will feature about 25 projects up stream intended to retain flood waters and slow flows during peak flood events. After addressing issues through the city of Austin’s various flood mitigation efforts, which included several flood buyouts and the retention wall along North Main Street, CRWD Administrator Justin Hanson said it’s important to take the next step. “We’re taking the next step,” Hanson said. “We’re going up into the watershed and starting to address the root of those problems.” The committee and several partners are also working on two projects to improve recreational capabilities near the Ramsey Dam and the Fourth Avenue Northeast Dam. The city of Austin is seeking $600,000 for the Fourth Avenue Northeast Dam area for flood control retaining walls, restoring the old mill site, for stream bank restorations and to study dam conditions. The plan is to also create a lookout area over the dam on the southeast corner along with a canoe portage. And it’s seeking $3 million in state bonding dollars for the Ramsey Dam area and Ramsey Mill Pond near The Old Mill Restaurant to acquire more land, build two miles of trail, restore a
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railroad bridge, improve the dam and build public amenities to improve the area. “It’ll be exciting to see what they’ve got going,” Siems said.
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The five goals are: —All learners will be ready for kindergarten —All learners will be challenged to achieve their academic potential —Our community will support and enhance parents and mentors in their role as primary influencers of our learners —Our community will provide equal access to opportunities which encourage our learners to Jennifer Lawhead, executive director of Austin Aspires, explore areas of personal interest held a meeting with Hispanic parents at Woodson and prepare for post-secondary Kindergarten Center in January 2015. education or career. —Our community will address social, emotional, mental and physical barriers to success for all learners. Moving forward, Austin Aspires will serve as the convening organization for community members to gather together to take action to achieve the goals. The action Teams surrounding each goal area are forming, and community members are encouraged to consider working with Austin Aspires. Lawhead said the organization is lucky to have the support of many community leaders. “I just really think our community is unique in the support of students, and I think we have an opportunity to do some amazing things for our children,” Lawhead said.
New facility more benefits Austin Utilities new administrative building nears completion
By Jordan Gerard At the new Austin Utilities administrative facility at 1908 14th St. NE near Todd Park, Todd Jorgenson recently led a tour around construction workers, painters and electricians who were building, painting and wiring the 105,000-square-foot facility. Jorgenson, operations director for natural gas and water, pointed out features such as a bigger lobby for customers, administrative offices, equipment storage, warehouse space, water testing lab, garage space and much more than their current facility offers. Austin Utilities is just months from opening the administrative facility, a site which will solve many issues for the not-for-profit electric, water, and natural gas utility. General Manager Mark Nibaur said the need for a new facility was a great one. After Austin Utilities studied the cost-effectiveness of building a new facility versus remodeling and upgrading its old facilities, the decision was to build a new facility.
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Historical Timeline of Austin Utilities Facilities 1887-2016 •1887 — City is granted authority to issue bonds to construct a municipal waterworks system on Water Street, now Fourth Avenue Northeast — present site of the AU Downtown Power Plant. •1888 — City council approves the erection of a small power plant (owned privately by S. H. and Winfield Scott Pierce, the Austin Electric Company) on former Water Street, and electric lights were turned on for the first time on March 15, 1889.
•1922-1985 — Various additions are made to the downtown site and surrounding buildings to accommodate their growing needs. •1961 — The Austin Municipal Building located at 400 4th St. NE was constructed by Austin Utilities for the community of Austin and is still occupied by both Austin Utilities and City of Austin administrative staff. •1997 — Addition to the Austin Municipal Building is completed to accommodate growing needs. •2009 — Austin Utilities purchases 23 acres known as Energy Park, 1908 14th St. NE in Austin’s industrial park for gas and water construction staff, vehicles and equipment. •2014 — Downtown Power Plant decommissioning due to outdated and inefficient technology is completed. •2015 — Groundbreaking for the new Energy Park facility which will become the future facility for all Austin Utilities administration and operations. Expected move-in date spring of this year.
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heating the garage space. The garage, vehicle storage areas and fleet maintenance center will also have in-floor heating. In some parts of the building, SageGlass will filter the amount of light that comes into the building. On a warm, sunny days, the windows can be electronically tinted darker to reduce glare and block out heat. On cold, cloudy days, the windows can be clear to allow sunlight in and help heat the building. In case of a severe storm or tornado, coiling metal shutters in the operations center, IT and dispatch areas near the middle of the building can be manually rolled down over windows and doors to provide protection capable of withstanding the force of an F-2 tornado. The rest of the building is designed to withstand an F-1 tornado. The shutters will also protect the generator, in which case after a storm, the power can still be accessed and turned on, Nibaur said. Departments will move one by one into the building starting in April and continuing through May and June. The public portions of the building should be open in July and August, Nibaur said. “It’s really exciting,” he said. “In my career I’ve never had the opportunity to see a new facility from design to construction and just seeing our staff looking forward to this and knowing we can operate and be much more efficient. I hear it every day, ‘Oh it will be nice to get in the new building because we can do this or do that now.’ I think the enthusiasm is really high.” Austin Utilities serves about 12,300 electric customers, 10,300 natural gas customers and 9,000 water customers. P
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“We just have a lot of logistic issues in our current facility,” Nibaur said. Currently, Austin Utilities has sites and services spattered across town. The new building will bring it all under one roof. At the new central building, customers will have full service. They can pay bills, get services hooked up or disconnected and get questions answered about natural gas, water and electricity. “The biggest thing is we will all be in one location,” Nibaur said. “Bringing in all our staff to be more efficient to serve our customers will be very beneficial.” Austin Utilities bought the 23-acre lot in Energy Park in 2009, but design and details didn’t surface until the downtown power plant was decommissioned in 2014. Construction started with a groundbreaking ceremony in April 2015. “We’re anxious to show it off to the community because it really is a community project to serve them long into the future,” Nibaur said. Nibaur said the energy efficient building will save $2.5 million over the next 10 years. The building will be heated and cooled through a geothermal system. The building will also be well-insulated and will feature new energy efficient doors and windows, LED lighting, and skylights placed in key locations will bring in natural light and reduce electricity costs. The garage doors are also glass, which lets more light into the vehicle space. There will also be a solar wall on the south side of the building that will take heat into the building and assist with
•1899 — Austin Village Council, dissatisfied with the rates and services offered by the private company, decides to create a municipal electric utility and purchases the Downtown Power Plant building from the Austin Electric Company.
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A worker works alone in a room of the Austin Utilities new central administrative building.
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Story and Photos by Eric Johnson
O
n a warm July afternoon before the survivor’s walk at the 2015 Mower County Relay for Life, about 20 kids from Blooming Prairie lugged drums of various types, cymbals and flags into position and began rolling out mad rhythms before people seated on metal bleachers. And Stix of Fury was just warming up. The Blooming Prairie drumline has been going strong
since 2009 when Blooming Prairie police officer Jacob Peterson began looking for something for kids to do during the summer. The idea of a drumline came along rather easily. Peterson knew Blooming Prairie didn’t have a marching band, but his desire to have something like a marching band was punctuated further when he would see other acts perform in parades. “We’re seeing all these other music groups, but none are from here,” Peterson said.
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“We have an info. meeting [each year], lay down the rules and what’s expected of them,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be a lot of work, hard work and time consuming.” But the kids generally fall into step whole-heartedly, even if they may not be proficient at drumming. At least not right away. “We’ve never turned a kid away,” Peterson said. “We find a way for them to be part of the group.” However, there is ample opportunity for the kids to work their way up if they want it and part of what makes that work so well is the support from the other members. Veteran members will jump in whenever there is a need,
including those that have graduated. “The veterans jump in and help and work with these kids,” Peterson said. “The kids that were part of the group, 90 percent have returned in the summer to help out because they miss being part of it.”
An impact beyond drumming
Stix of Fury is more than a drumline. In a lot of ways they are a family, but never has that been more tested than the spring of last year when they lost one of their own.
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Drumlines require an immense amount of precision and timing so it would make sense if Stix of Fury would be made up of seasoned, if not young, drummers. But for Peterson it’s more about getting the kids involved. There is an atmosphere surrounding Stix of Fury that is more supportive and opportunistic. “There’s no prerequisite to be part of the group,” Peterson said. “It’s something we give every kid — an opportunity. We give them a crash course in percussion and if they stick it out they can be very good at it.” That doesn’t mean, however, that something isn’t asked of those participating.
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All are welcome
A pair of shoes representing Alex Jorgenson are left out at several shows by Stix of Fury. Jorgenson, who took his own life, will always be remembered by the group.
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Peterson then went to Blooming Prairie band director Ross Reishus to make sure that if a marching band, or in this case, a drumline, was started it wouldn’t interfere with BP’s music program. “I wanted to talk to him and make sure I didn’t step on his toes,” Peterson said. “I went into the band room with all the kids and presented the idea and they were all receptive.” And it really took off. Peterson started getting kids together in the winter of 2009, and the group first performed in 2010. In that first year, they lined up seven parades despite more than a few skeptics. “They were a little skeptical,” Peterson said referring to the first couple gigs he tried lining up. “They had never heard of us before.” Seven performances though was all it took. The next year Stix of Fury doubled its perforMcKenzie Jensen smiles as she performs mances and with the Stix of Fury color guard at the jumped from Relay for Life last year. 15 kids to 30. Then in 2013 a color guard was added, followed by the purchase of a trailer to stow their gear.
Continued from Page 25 One of the group’s veteran members of three years, Alex Jorgenson, took his own life in April of 2015, just as Stix was preparing for the new season. It struck the group like a hammer blow. “He just had a lot of depression and he wasn’t able to deal with it,” Peterson said. “It hurt a lot of us. A lot of these families have become good friends and when he passed away it hurt. It hurt bad.” However, Alex’s family asked if the group would perform at the wake. At the time, Peterson wasn’t sure the kids could do it, but the group wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to pay their own version of respect. “Some of the new kids didn’t know the material, so [we] brought in some veterans from the year before,” Peterson said. “It was the hardest thing any of us had ever done, but we got through it.” The moment was made especially poignant in that both Alex’s older brother was a previous member and his younger sister was a current member of the color guard. The tough decisions didn’t end there, however. Now the group had to decide if they wanted to continue with the season at hand. At the time the group had been out of action for several weeks. The season by that point was very much in doubt, but the group rallied and members weren’t about to forget their former teammate. “It was a big decision: Do we continue with our season?” Peterson said. “Some kids hadn’t touched a drum in four weeks, but we said, ‘Let’s make this season happen. Let’s do it for [Alex].’” During the Relay for Life later that summer, a pair of shoes was left out where Alex would have stood serving as a reminder that in their hearts, he was still part of Stix of Fury. Stickers were made with Alex’s name on them, and Peterson has made it especially clear that if a kid is having problems to talk to someone.
Isaac Baker plays during Stix of Fury’s performance at the Relay of Life last year.
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“The school and townspeople have been very supportive. If they wouldn’t have been at our back we couldn’t have done this.” — Jacob Peterson “I talk at every performance,” Peterson said. “Mental depression is not something to be ashamed of. One day [Alex] was there playing and the next day he was gone. I just didn’t see it. I didn’t seem him doing anything like that. It opened a lot of eyes in Blooming. Don’t be ashamed of mental illness, depression. Get help.”
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Charlie Heimerman steps out and plays a solo during Stix of Fury’s performance at the Relay for Life last year.
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Peterson admits that the idea of Stix of Fury still seems amazing to him. The idea that it’s still going strong is a sense of pride for not only himself and the drummers but the community as a whole. “It kind of seems surreal,” Peterson said. “I never thought it would have exploded like this.” But it’s not just Peterson or the kids that make this drumline go. As the saying goes, it takes a village. “To make this group possible, the town has been very supportive as well as the school,” Peterson said. “I can’t thank everybody who as been supportive of us enough. The school and townspeople have been very supportive. If they wouldn’t have been at our back we couldn’t have done this.” P
Bob and Madonna Rosel remember their son, Dustin, as a fun kid who was always willing to help a friend.
In the name of lost loved ones
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he first weekend of November for the last eight years, 17 blue balloons have flown at the golf course in Adams, in remembrance of a life that was taken too soon and the toy drive that keeps his memory alive. When Bob and Madonna Rosel lost their son, Dustin, in 2000, they knew they had to keep his memory alive. So every year, the Rose Creek couple holds a toy drive in November in memory of their son who passed away at age 17 in a car accident.
Rose Creek’s Rosels honor son’s memory with annual toy drive Story by Jenae Hackensmith | Photos by Eric Johnson
“It kind of started for us at Christmas time that first year,” Bob said. “It was very small. We were searching, I think, like a lot
Madonna Rosel Bob Rosel
Age: 59 Current town: Rose Creek Hometown: Austin Fun fact: Madonna likes hanging out with her grandchildren and dogs, and if she could she would have horses, but that’s in her next lifetime.
Age: 61 Current town: Rose Creek Hometown: Austin Fun fact: Bob is a music freak and used to be announcer in Lexington, Kentucky, Lincoln, Nebraska, and worked at rock station. The couple also has a peacock living in the backyard.
of people do when they lose someone like that. The hole was enormous. We were searching for something to do to include
him in our Christmas.” The idea came about when the couple bought their son a present for Christmas. Since he wasn’t there to give it to, they decided to donate it to the local Salvation Army to donate it to someone who could use it. The idea grew into a small get-together with Dustin’s friends, who all brought a basketball that year because he enjoyed basketball. Madonna recalled her son and his friends playing the game at their home the night before the accident.
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Photos of Bob and Madonna’s son, Dustin, adorn a mantel with other family pictures in their Rose Creek home. our mark in the world, but our children who die young don’t, so as parents [we do it for them].” The Rosels plan to continue the party until at least the 20th year. They have been grateful to the friends and family who have helped since the beginning with their support and generosity. The drive has raised about $12,000 to $13,000 over the years in gift cards and cash for the Salvation Army, plus a truck full of toys each year. Bob was able to see some of the people who received the toys the day of the distribution, and he was grateful for the generosity of those who donated. “It’s really nice to see kind of the bounce in people’s step when they know they’ve got something for their kids,” he said. P
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who support the toy drive he and Madonna host each year in Dustin’s name, he noted they are not the only ones making something from a tragic loss. “To me, even a bigger story than this, than what we do, is what people have done just in this general little area in this community from the children they lost,” Bob said. He listed a handful of many fundraisers held in the honor of a loved one who passed away, including the Karl R. Potash Foundation and annual golf tournament, a 5K the Tess Landherr 5K Walk/Run, a scholarship fund for Curt Heimer, and the annual Darren Dash. “You want something good to come out of something so tragic, otherwise it seems like such a waste,” Bob said. “The rest of us, we all live our lives, we have our chances to make
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this way, he was very giving and generous, he was really empathetic with his friends, he’d go out of his way to help them or do something for them.” And both Bob and Madonna remember Christmas as a special time for their family. “Christmas was a favorite time of year for [Dustin],” Bob said. “Even as a teenager he’d be shaking the presents and stuff like that.” “My favorite memory of him is him laying on his belly under the tree,” Madonna added. “You know, this 6-foot body, scrounging through the gifts to try to see which was his and what they were.” Yet as the years have passed, Bob said the honorees of the party have grown larger than just Dustin as more people they know have lost children. As he is thankful for friends and family
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The idea was for people to get together and remember Dustin and bring something to donate, whether it was clothing, toys or other items. “It was very small and it was good for us and I think for his friends and some of our family members,” Bob said. The Rosels hosted the gathering in their small family home for the first seven years. Bob explained the second year rolled around and he and his wife were still searching for a way to remember their son and include him in their Christmas and in their lives, so they decided to do the same thing. Yet after seven years and a flooded basement, the two decided it was time to move the gathering somewhere bigger. “It just kept getting bigger and bigger until, this is a small house, it was jam packed,” Bob said. “We had people outside on the deck and stuff in the cold.” Madonna agreed. “We were like, ‘Well, we can’t do this here,’” she said. The couple then moved the event to Cedar River Golf Course in Adams. The get-together was originally held in December, but moved it was moved to the first weekend of November as the golf course closed at the end of October and agreed to stay open the next weekend. “We’ve gotten a lot of really great feedback from people because it’s before the holidays start, and it’s less hectic even though people’s schedules are still busy,” Madonna said. Now in its eighth year at the golf course, Madonna estimates the couple sends out about 150 invitations each year. The donations have continued each year, with toys, bicycles, clothing, and cash or gift cards. “For us it’s an extension of our Christian faith, to live out that faith to help people, and at the same time it’s a sense of keeping our son [alive],” Bob said. “I think the thing that most parents who have lost a child are worried about is they’ll be forgotten,” he continued. “So for us this is helping people, certainly it’s helping us. I mean that’s why it started was to help us. And the giving part is, like most kids and Dustin was typical
Positive role models
Mower County Mentoring helps form bonds, friendships Story by Jason Schoonover | Photo by Eric Johnson
Bob Stratton talks about his time as the mentoring coordinator for Mower County Mentoring.
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Early in the mentoring process, activities can be pretty basic: kicking a soccer ball, throwing a football or going out for ice cream. Stratton offers mentors in the program a two-page sheet it gives out to mentors for possible events. “And if all else fails: movie,” Stratton says with a laugh. Baskin and Stratton have both watched the boys they mentor grow from boys to young men or teenagers. The activities change over time. Some take the young people to a Minnesota Twins game or a trip to a zoo or cave. “Every time you get to spend time with these young people, memories are made,” Baskin said. After developing a relationship, Baskin doesn’t see his connection with the young man ending anytime soon. Baskin attends many of his sporting events, has him over for dinner with his wife, Amy, and he’s even taken him on trips to history museums. Though the young man has his own strong family ties, Baskin said he and his family have bonded with him too. “He’s become a part of our family,” Baskin said. “I’ve created some lifelong friendships,” he added. However, sometimes the interactions include more mundane, everyday things like shopping, washing the car or yard
Age: 65 Current and hometown: Austin Fun fact: He enjoys yard work, reading and outdoor activities.
Greg Baskin
Age: 60 Hometown: Chicago and lived across the country growing up Current town: Austin Fun fact: He enjoys running and says he’s found new joy as a substitute teacher in the Austin Public Schools in retirement. work, Stratton said. But sometimes those more everyday things can include valuable life lessons like how to fuel a car, how to balance a checkbook or that a credit card doesn’t equal free money. Stratton also tries to ask his kids what they want to be when they grow up, and he’ll often use that as a way to urge them to see school as important. Each year, Stratton surveys the mentors. In 2014, one mentor saw a child about 15 times, while another saw the child 60 or 70 times. The program reimburses mentors up to $75 a month, but Stratton said few mentors turn in expenses. Stratton is retired, so he tries to see his kids once a week, but they say whatever is right for a mentor and the family of the child is the best option. Stratton got involved in the mentoring program after he retired after working with Hormel Foods Corp. for 40 years. He’s been mentoring his two boys for about four years. Though he’d been involved as a youth baseball coach, Stratton delved more deeply into mentoring after suffering a serious heart attack. He decided he was going to do some good.
The goal of being a mentor is to enhance the opportunity for a child to be successful, so Stratton said the most rewarding part for him is to be involved with a child who could use some help and enhance their opportunity to be successful. “It’s rewarding,” he said.
Finding mentors
Though rewarding, the program holds it challenges. The biggest is finding enough mentors. “The Achilles heel of our program is attaining mentors,” he said. Stratton and Baskin admit the mentoring program isn’t the typical volunteer opportunity. Mentors need to see the children on a regular basis, and it’s not something they can just quit easily. Stratton admits it’s not for everyone because of the commitment level often involved. “It takes a certain sort of mindset,” he said. Stratton admits they typically have more interested young people than available mentors. But Stratton admits they don’t accept everyone who wants to be a mentor into the program. They need to ensure mentors are solid, trustworthy citizens. They will pair a woman mentor with a boy, but only as long as everyone agrees to it. That can be helpful as Stratton often has more female mentors, but more young boys in need of mentors. Though it’s a program that requires much time and effort, Baskin urged people to consider committing to the program or at least making a financial donation. “It’s a good program, and I’d like to see more people get involved,” he said. Stratton added that the program is rewarding, as he and other mentors get to see young people grow, learn life lessons and often become lifelong fiends. “There’s a heck of a demand out there,” Stratton said. “Consider it. Give it a try. The rewards are great and very satisfying.” P
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Making memories
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would service a lot more kids,” Stratton said. Greg Baskin became a mentor after being involved through his church at St. Olaf. In fact, he met one young man he’s mentored for several years at church and is now mentoring his brother too. Baskin compared mentoring to the work he’s done teaching confirmation: You work to be a good role model, but you also make connections with young people. “You’re just with them,” Baskin said. “You’re just trying to be a positive adult role model with them.”
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ob Stratton smiles when he recalls one of the boys he mentors telling him he’s the closest thing to the dad he never had. While the Mower County Mentoring program isn’t meant to fill in for a parent, the program aims to take young people in need and pair them with an adult who will have a positive influence on their life. And there’s no denying that mentors develop an attachment with the child — something that can’t easily be broken. “I guess that’s what it’s all about,” Stratton, the Mower County Mentoring coordinator, said. When a child or teen is referred, it’s recognized there’s a void of some sort in the child’s life, and the mentor aims to fill that void. Stratton said it’s a feel-good program for mentors. “The kids certainly get a lot of good out of it, and certainly from the mentor’s perspective, it’s pretty darn rewarding when you see how some of these kids’ progress,” Stratton said. The name of the program is rather telling — Mower County Mentoring mentors in-need boys and girls who have been identified in a variety of ways, whether it’s through social services, school officials, organizations, parents, guardians or another way. Once a referral comes in, mentoring officials will go and meet with a parent and child. Plus, program leaders are always on the lookout around the community for prospective mentors willing to give their time and efforts to the program. When a referral comes in for a child, they sometimes have to wait if a mentor isn’t available or if someone can’t be secured. A ready pool of mentors could help serve far more kids. The program boasts about 25 active members, and some have more than one child. In fact, Stratton said one has five. The program is currently serving 30 to 35 children. “If we had a ready supply of mentors, we
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uture of growth Conceptual rendering of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center’s new interpretive center. Photo provided
Jay C. Hormel Nature Center team looking ahead to more space for teaching By Jordan Gerard A team of four people helps Director/Naturalist Larry Dolphin supervise the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center’s daily operations. If that means doing everything from teaching classes to cleaning toilets, that’s because it’s a team effort. That team is looking forward to the completion of the nature center’s $7 million interpretive center, and the project will break ground on Earth Day, April 22, 2016, before being completed and opening a year later.
“We don’t have enough space to accommodate some of those very big events we have and we don’t have any control of those numbers.”
“We don’t have enough space to accommodate some of those very big events we have and we don’t have any control over those numbers.”
Another teaching tool
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In addition to more classroom space, the new interpretive center will also have more exhibit space, and the nature center is working on $1 million for toward about 15 educational exhibits. Some exhisting exhibits — including the bison, the bison prairie mural, the salamanders and snakes exhibits — will be moved and incorporated into the new interpretive center. — Julie Champlin Anderson said the resident critters will be incorporated Space for learning into a display that better shows their ecosystem and habitat The Jay C. Hormel Nature Center has outgrown its curJay C. Hormel Nature Center assistant they live in and they will have new enclosures. They are also rent interpretive center and classroom space was most getting a red-tailed hawk for the new center. “well-needed” in the new center, according to Julie Cham“I think it will be easier to teach with the new exhibits, rather than having a hodgeplin said. podge of things out there,” Anderson said. “In the exhibit area, we’ll be able to acThough Champlin’s title is nature center assistant, she does much more than that. commodate bigger groups than we can in the old center.” She’s also the office manager, a teacher and steps in wherever she’s needed. Champlin Anderson added when they have groups in the current exhibit space, there’s no also a member of Friends of the Hormel Nature Center board, the main coordinator room for them or they have to close the building. for the Thanksgiving feast, coordinator for auditorium rentals and also handles memThe new building will also have a new exhibit called Creatures of the Night and it berships. She has a degree in parks and recreation and a minor in forestry. will be a dark tunnel-like walk through with a lighted pathway. “I grew up in Austin and Kim’s Woods was the place that inspired me to go to colChamplin said they are excited about the new developments, but the original intent lege and learn more about nature,” Champlin said. “I spend a lot of time out here.” of the nature center remains the same: enjoy nature. More space will help the teachers at the nature center when visitors take classes, “We want to inspire people to get out and observe nature, yes the building is wonsuch as cross country skiing, hiking, fire building, tapping maple syrup, pond scoopderful but we really want to push them out the door and have them enjoy the trails or ing and more. skiing or hiking, or even water sampling,” Champlin said. “We average 70,000 visitors a year,” Champlin said. In one day she saw more than 200 people. She said it was exciting for them to be Good for the soul here. Almost all grade levels from Austin area schools have their yearly field trip at the Anderson started as an intern after a former intern told her about the position. nature center, according to Maria Anderson, a naturalist and teacher. She applied for the job, and talked to Dolphin and told him, “I think this job would “The curriculum has been associated with the school’s science courses,” Anderson be good for my soul [but] didn’t have the schooling background.” said. “Some classes are seasonal. Fifth-graders come in the winter for cross country Dolphin chose her as intern since the job fit her personality, and she’s been at the skiing and snowshoeing.” center ever since. Each intern gets to write their own curriculum appropriate for 6 to Anderson also takes care of the website, publishes updates and sends emails and 9-year-olds. newsletters. Anderson said Some of the classes become she grew up in the country staples for every summer. Anand played outside all the derson said she developed a time, either in creeks or ridcurriculum on water and now ing bikes. that class has become part of Currently, the nature centhe annual Water Festival. ter’s teaching facility is the “It was good to be in a Ruby Rupner Auditorium. position that felt good about The problem is, the curricubeing able to share my passion lum and supplies are in the with kids and others,” Anderinterpretative center, so evson said. ery time staffers teach, they Anderson is just one in a have to wheel the supplies long line of nature center inover and back again. The terns. Ben Sherman is the cennew interpretive center will ter’s newest intern, and he’d feature two large classrooms, developed a love of the nature which also will make it easier center longer before working to schedule field trip groups, there. Anderson said. They would “When I was a really young also like to bring in more student, I took almost every classes from out of town. class they had available out “When we have our nature here,” Sherman said. activities, we can’t put 200 It’s true, Champlin remempeople in the nature center, bers Ben as a consistent stuso we’d have to divide the dent and visitor. He applied groups up and say, ‘Ok, your for the open position when he group of 25 or 30 can come returned to Austin after gradin from this time to this time Julie Champlain goes over the planning process and what went into the work going on at the Jay C. Hormel Nature uating college. He talked to and then Maria’s group can Center. Photo by Eric Johnson Dolphin and got the position. come in,’” Champlin said.
As intern, Ben helps with administrative duties, teaching, caring for educational animals, working with visitors and he helps out wherever he’s needed. “I feel lucky to be back and really want to instill the same curiosity in kids that teachers I had here shared with me," Sherman said. “This nature center had a huge role in why I studied what I did and my whole career trajectory.”
Fixing up for big plans
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Jay C. Hormel Nature Center land manager Mike Goetz talks about the work so far at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. ABOVE: A piece of construction machinery sits next to where the new interpretive center will be built.
Mike Goetz, the nature center’s maintenance worker, is excited for the new site. “It’s great,” he said. “I can’t wait to finish moving in and get life back to normal.” He said his equipment is spread out all over the place right now due to the transition between buildings and into a new maintenance shed. “It’s been so long, I’ve been starting to forget where things are at,” Goetz joked. “It’s like a scavenger hunt to find something.” Goetz is the center’s one and only go-to fix it man, though he does have part-time help in the summer. He is responsible for the maintaining the trails and also teaches classes such as fire building and maple syruping and “just a little bit of everything.” He also made the welcome signs by the highway and by the center. The only thing he will not do is answer the phone, he said. Goetz added the new nature center will be energy efficient. The building will also be more energy efficient with more insulation, a lower ceiling so there’s less cubic feet to heat and the energy efficient LED lighting makes it brighter. There will be a geothermal field, which pulls heat from the earth to offset heating costs. An array of solar panels will provide enough electricity to run the new building. Four rain gardens will also be installed. Rain gardens slow the flow of water and lets it flow slowly into rivers. It mitigates flooding and pollution. Though the nature center received $5 million from The Hormel Foundation, $500,000 from the city of Austin and $300,000 from Hormel Foods Corp. “We’re still looking for more donations,” Champlin said. P
Austin Daily Herald
Preliminary work has already begun to prepare for the new interpretive center. In addition to building a new interpretative center, the nature center also built a new maintenance building.
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Progress 2016
Opening the door to growth I By Jordan Gerard
City leaders aim to fix housing shortage to spur development
t’s not a new problem for Austin — the city’s population is growing, but the question remains: Where will the people live? City and community leaders have worked for years to improve Austin’s housing stock, but Mayor Tom Stiehm and the City Council are taking a new approach. Stiehm formed a committee of 19 people, including realtors, various community stakeholders, business people, city people and housing, and Austin Redevelopment Authority members. The committee meets at least once a month and is working with Vision 2020’s Business Friendly Environment Committee to come up with solutions for the issue. “We’re trying to find out how we can get people to come to Austin and build these houses for middle income people,” Stiehm said. “We have a certain area we need to address and that’s our goal.”
Demographics of the demand
Leaders say there are few housing options for middle-class residents. Mayor Tom Stiehm said there is a housing shortage in the number of houses costing $250,000 to $300,000 range. However, there’s a surplus of houses in the $80,000 to $140,000 range. “If you’re working for Hormel or Mayo Clinic, some of these places bring in a lot of people to town and they’re looking for a house in that price range and they’re just not there right now,” Stiehm said. “But as they expand, we need to get these people houses, it’s harder for them to bring people here if they don’t have a market to look at for housing.” To Stiehm, these are good problems to have — they’re problems that come with growth. But if left unaddressed, such problems would hurt the city’s economy. City Administrator Craig Clark said the shortage is “definitely acute.” The demand is there and the goal is to try to fill those and try to alleviate some of the gross pressures the city has.
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people companies want to hire, which would mean more could do it quick, but it’s not going to last very long and it “If people work here, we want them to live here,” Stiehm jobs and people in the city. may not be a quick fix,” Stiehm said. said. “We want our schools and housing to be the equiva“That’s probably one of our main jobs is to provide good Community leaders don’t want to rely on taxpayers to fix lent so they don’t feel they have to move somewhere else.” paying jobs to people in Austin,” Stiehm said. “We have a the problem, especially since Austin has a 20 percent povClark said the cause of the housing shortage is wage-recouple of industries but the city needs to be tireless in lookerty rate. Since many people live in homes in the $100,000 lated. Half of the residents in Austin are median income ing for economic opportunity for it’s citizens.” to $130,000 range, why would they be asked to subsidize at $38,000, so they would need an additional $5,000 per houses for people that make more money. year, or $2.41 more per hour, to afford a $1,100 month Other solutions “That would be unacceptable,” Stiehm said. rent. Some solutions are already in the works. “Until some of that changes, you see that pressure on Some organizations are taking housing into their own Private developers the job market,” Clark said. “We’ve had very low unemhands. The Hormel Foundation has worked with the HormStiehm said they city leaders feel the issue is a matter of ployment in the community, so because of that wages will el Institute for the past two years to develop rental housing private industry. likely increase and some of the housing problem will be for Institute researchers, many of whom will come to the “We don’t want to go out as a city and start building addressed in part of that.” Institute as part of its current expansion, which is projected things. We need to find ways to entice private developers The shortage doesn’t address one particular demoto add about 120 jobs in the area. coming to town,” Stiehm said. graphic. Clark said it’s at all levels, some more than others, Last year, the Foundation announced a 42-unit Other cities have tried tax incentives according to a 2013 housing study. However, the apartment complex, dubbed Science Park Housfor private industries build their business availability of multifamily homes is more acute ing, which is being built across the street from the in that town, but it comes with lukewarm than single family homes. It may also surprise Institute. results, Stiehm said. There isn’t a temsome that senior housing was the leading deThe HRA is also working with the nonprofit deplate for what to do, because the city isn’t mand. Having that statistic pointed out served as veloper Three Rivers Community Action to set up a sure what to do, he added. the basis for understanding the problem and what 30-unit townhouse development in the Fox Point “Hopefully, maybe, industry can step needs to be addressed, Clark said. neighborhood in northeast Austin. in and maybe help the private sector, Plus Austin’s growth is slower than cities like The Fox Point development, near the Walmart that’s what we’re hoping,” Stiehm said. Rochester or the Twin Cities. in Austin, was foreclosed on several years ago after “There’s ways for some of our industries, “It’s more of an income demographic rather developers tried and failed to build houses there the city can help out with some things, than age,” Stiehm said. “It’s tough to compete Clark Stiehm due to the Great Recession. we can get people to come in and build with other cities’ developments. We’re growing at Once the development moves forward, people could pay some places.” half a percent in the last 10 years, they’re growing by leaps up to $718 per month in rent and Fox Point would accomFor instance, the city offered a $17 million package for and bounds.” McKesson Corp. to build a $65 million distribution center in modate future developments. Clark said they see a lot of instances where a developer Clark said the state came in and gave an analysis for their Austin, but instead the company chose a $10 million packhas a fixed cost for development, whether they build in programs and they also had a federal housing tax credit age from Clear Lake, Iowa, a city of about 7,700 people. Rochester or the Twin Cities. program in the Fox Point area for a multi-prong approach. “We don’t know exactly what their incentive was, but at “If they need to get $1,100-$1,200 a month in rent and Clark said the houses they want are market rate, which the same time, these are things they look at,” Stiehm said. they have lower wages than that in Austin, even though will pay a little higher taxes and provide more revenue for “When you go to Clear Lake, you’ve got Mason City right there might be opportunity here, the developers choosing next to you, they have a much bigger market as far as work- the services and help balance that out. to invest that fixed cost in more populated areas or higher For example the Orchard Creek 1 and 2 development, ers and housing and things like that. I doubt that this was income areas, so it’s a real disadvantage for us to ask them consisting of 153 parcels, provides $36.2 million for the housing, but we know for a fact, that that’s probably one of to spur some housing when those economic factors exist,” city. The city portion of tax revenue is $147,709 and a total the factors that didn’t help a whole lot.” Clark said. tax amount of $413,750. That’s the kind of economic enStiehm said it’s not hard for companies to find out Austin gine they’re talking about, Clark said, though there’s still has a housing shortage in the more expensive area, which Solutions needs at low, middle and upper middle income levels. might have been a minor factor in why McKesson chose Since housing is a long-term problem, Clark said it will “These have economic impact that can help provide Clear Lake. take a long-term solution. The city would like to try to form housing, job growth for major employers and those sort of “We need to address those things so next time an oppora public/private partnership because the city wouldn’t have things,” Clark said. “There’s been a lot of discussion about tunity comes along we can say we moved in the right directhe capacity to take it all on alone. A partnership would fill folks that are living in Rochester and then commuting to tion to entice these people here,” he said. that demand. Austin. If they’d choose to locate here, what that means in Stiehm said a consulting company had given the Devel“We’re looking for a permanent fix, we’re not looking economic revenue for the city, tax money, tax base.” P opment Corporation of Austin a lecture about what kind of for a quick fix,” Stiehm said. “If you wanted a quick fix, you
S E PAC FOR GROWTH Story by Rocky Hulne, Photos by Eric Johnson
Dome, other facility projects offer promise for athletes
Austin warms up under the dome over Art Hass Stadium before a winter league game.
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t’s a great time to be a Packer.
Last summer and fall, Austin High School athletes in various sports received a major boost to their facilities and those upgrades have a lot of people in the community excited. Most of the renovations came at the Wescott Athletic Complex through a $5.2 million project to add artificial
“To hear about these great renovations going on in Austin shows the commitment of the community and we’re moving forward.” — Chris Gogolewski Austin baseball coach
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Players from visiting teams in Austin’s winter league make use of the batting cages under the dome over Art Hass Stadium.
field turf which was installed on both fields, lights were installed at Larry Gilbertson track and field and a seasonal dome that gives athletes a chance to train through the winter. At Austin High School, Ove Berven Gym received a major makeover, and Riverside Arena received new cement, new piping and an updated cooling system. Austin head baseball coach Chris Gogolewski will reap the benefits from the dome when his team practices there in the spring, but he also has children in the school district so he’s glad to see athletes in all sports have upgraded facilities.
Austin’s Brooke Pazurek pitches during a winter league game at the dome over Art Hass Stadium. The dome provides ample space to play softball while using a more realistic surface to play on.
Progress 2016
The dome is being used for plenty of purposes. At the high school, the baseball, softball, soccer and track teams are using it. Youth soccer, youth baseball, an adult flag football league and two amateur football teams also take advantage of the dome. The public also has opportunities for recreational use as Facilities Coordinator Dan Ball said he’s talked to people who want to use the dome to host a party, a movie night, or simply a place for kids to come and play for awhile. Many community members use the dome for walking and jogging from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. The batting cages are available to be rented out, and Ball said there is a possibility to hit golf balls in the cage and people can rent the dome on their own if they want to decide to throw a company party or a group of families want to hold a Dave Needham gets an early morning run get-together in it. under the dome in January. Dome days are also being offered for kids to come in for a few hours and kick a ball around, throw a football or play Room for growth bean bags with a $2 charge for individuals and $5 for famiBall sees the dome being even more utilized as everyone figures lies. out more ways to use it. “It has a lot of possibilities with it and there’s been a lot of interest by a lot of peo“I think by next year we’ll have it figured out better and coaches and kids will know ple,” Ball said. “Once they walk in here they can see it’s pretty impressive and it’s what they want to do with their time in here,” Ball said. “I think as we go along, we’ll bigger than they think. It’s pretty good sized. I think before it went up we had a lot of get more families that are looking to use it for birthday parties or a wedding. I’ve people wondering what it’s going to be like. When you walk in here, it changes a lot been getting more and more calls and emails about it.” of opinions. It’s pretty dang nice and it’s hard to find something wrong with it. To me, Leaders already adapted their plans by changing the rules to allow runners along there’s way more positives than negatives.” with walkers. No matter what happens with the dome in the next few years, one thing is for cerA boost for athletes tain. Austin athletes are a lot better off now than they were in previous years. Austin softball and soccer players used to have to drive to Rochester if they wanted The Wescott project cost a total of $5.2 million dollars with $2.7 million coming to play in a winter league, but now they can do it in their own town. The availability of from the Hormel Foundation and $2.5 million coming from Austin Public Schools. The the dome should raise the interest in athletes of all ages to stay active in the cold windome is about 86,000 square feet and the track field is about 105,000 square feet of ter months. artificial turf. Austin sophomore pitcher Hannah Rasmussen said the dome will be a huge boost The upgrades to Knowlton Auditorium and Ove Berven Gym, which is 8,000 square to the Packer softball program. feet, cost a total of $2.3 million dollars. P
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Community use
In the past, the baseball and softball teams held early season practices in Hastings Gym, where they couldn’t air out any throws and they couldn’t really simulate the sport they were practicing. “There’s a lot more space to be able to hit, and field, and it’s more like dirt than the gym floor,” Rasmussen said. “It’s a lot better than the gym and it gets us going before March. It gets us playing a little more.” Rasmussen said the dome also offers other opportunities for the community at a time of year when there’s not that much to do. “It’s really nice to have somewhere where you’re not outside or in the cold,” she said. “You can walk or play or whatever. You can do a lot of things in here.” In the spring, the Austin and Riverland Community College softball teams will host a few teams to play in the dome and the Packer baseball team will be making full use of it as well. Last year, the Austin baseball team didn’t get outside until its first scrimmage of the year, which came just two days before its first game of the year. “We’re not going to be dictated by the weather,” Gogolewski said. “Kids can be throwing, hitting and their mind will be geared up for ball. It’s a win-win situation.” Ball joked that no baseball or softball player will have excuses for sore arms when the season rolls around this year. He’s also impressed by the popularity of the dome when he sees high school athletes coming in at 6 a.m. before they go to school. “It’s amazing to see them in here,” he said. “They get their hour in and they take off. They’ve been enthusiastic about it.”
Austin Daily Herald
“I get to see it from the coaching standpoint and the parent standpoint,” Gogolewski said. “To hear about these great renovations going on in Austin shows the commitment of the community and we’re moving forward. It’s an exciting time to see these things come together at the same time.” The turf allows the Packers to use the field for soccer and football in the fall and neither team has to worry about wearing the surface down. It also gives Austin a much better chance to host a section football game in the future.
Hayfield girls athletes Maggie Streightiff, from left, Olivia Matti, Carrie Rutledge, Kate Kruger, Kyal Heydt and Alexis Dudycha are the young athletes that are making the Hayfield girls athletic teams something watch out for.
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i p a c o t s aiming
l a i t n e t o p talize on
e t e l h t a s l r i g g n i k i Six V Story by Rocky Hulne, Photos by Eric Johnson
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Continues on Page 42
Hayfield’s Maggie Streightiff hits against a Blooming Prairie block during a Section 1A West Tournament match last November in Hayfield. Herald file photo
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sophomore class when they were second-graders. That’s when the Hayfield girls basketball team advanced to the Class AA state semifinals in 2008. Hayfield played in Williams Arena and Target Center during that run and it left a
Austin Daily Herald
n high school sports, it’s rare for athletes to make an impact on varsity as a freshman. It’s especially rare for multiple freshmen in the same class to step up and play at the varsity level. At Hayfield High School, six freshmen made a big impact in the 2014-2015 season. They all started on a state qualifying softball team and some of them played varsity basketball and volleyball last year. Now sophomores, the group — Maggie Streightiff, Carrie Rutledge, Olivia Matti, Kate Kruger, Kyal Heydt and Alexis Dudycha — has its sights set on even bigger things for the next three years. After making it to the state softball tournament last season, the Vikings know what it takes to compete at a high level and they plan on continuing to play with a competitive edge. “I think it was a really humbling experience to go up and see some of the best teams in the state [in softball],” Streightiff said. “It definitely motivates us. I would love to go to state in all three sports.” The seed of motivation was planted for Hayfield’s super
lasting impact on a group of young Vikings who hadn’t even begun to play organized sports together yet. Rutledge remembers looking up to that Hayfield basketball team that had so much success. “When you’re little you think it’s so cool to go to the big stadium,” she said. “You watch them and you want to be like them.” Hayfield head girls basketball coach Fred Kindschy, who coached the state qualifying team in 2008, said that he has been aware of this sophomore class since they were much younger. Last season, he didn’t rush any of his younger players to varsity before they were ready, and he thinks they all handled the transition from junior high to varsity quite well last year.
Continued from Page 41 Kindschy said this group will have to keep working hard if it wants to play in more state tournaments. “Everything just has to fall your way,” he said. “They’re a class with a lot of potential, but depending on how hard they work will show how far they go. They’re a very talented group, and hopefully they can put together some real strong years on varsity.” The Viking sophomores started playing team sports together in third grade and were immediately competitive in basketball. Later, they picked up volleyball and softball and now they’ve learned to embrace whatever sport is in season. “If you ask most of them, their favorite sport is whatever’s going on right now and that’s what it needs to be in a small school,” Hayfield athletic director Chris Pack said. “They know when they’re in that season, they devote their time to it.” Of course in the summer time, prep athletes don’t have the benefit of focusing on one sport. The Vikings try to get workouts in as many sports as possible in the offseason. Even though they’ve already established themselves as varsity-level athletes, the Hayfield sophomore class is not satisfied. They want to be as competitive as they can. “You just keep pushing yourself to become better and work harder,” Dudycha said. “You can’t give up. In the summer, you go back and forth between different sports. It never stops.” Playing in a class with so many good athletes brings out the competitive vibe in everyone involved. But the Viking sophomores aren’t stressing over who’s starting and who’s coming off the bench. They’re more concerned with playing with their friends and winning contests. “It’s really fun to play with good players and it’s fun to play with your friends,” Heydt said. “We all want to play together, so we’re pushing each other to play as one. I’m so excited for our senior year because we’ll have all of our grade playing.” Matti said that all of the sophomores get along, which helps create a positive team environment. “We’re all kind of close,” she said. “So if someone’s down, we bring each other up and we all can give each other advice. We all just need to keep working hard and keep practicing so we don’t stay at the same level we’re at.” While hard work and team bonding has been very helpful
Hayfield’s Carrie Rutledge drives into the lane against Glencoe-Silver Lake during the first half in December of last year. LEFT: Alexis Dudycha and Kate Kruger share an embrace after beating Fillmore Central in Austin last year. Herald file photo
for the Vikings, it also helps that the team has had some family members pave the way for them. Streightiff had an older sister, Molly, and an older brother, Drew, who were standouts at Hayfield; Rutledge’s older brother, Cam, was a standout in football, basketball and baseball for the Vikings; Matti’s older brother, Nick, is a senior and is active in sports at Hayfield; and Kruger’s older brother, Cole, is playing basketball at Division II Upper Iowa. Kruger remembers watching her brother play in the Class AA state basketball tournament and now she’s hoping to match that feat. “Watching my older brother play gave something for us to strive for,” Kruger said. “I think state is the big thing that we’re all striving for. We just need to keep getting better with each game.” P
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s h t u o y y n a m f o e n o s i s r e a u e g n a e n l i K g n i t o Alex o h s p a if ring up tr Story by Rocky Hulne | Photos by Eric Johnson When Alex Kinnear wants to compete, he grabs a rifle, heads out to the Cedar Valley Conservation Club and starts firing at clay targets. Kinnear doesn’t have to run, throw or even work up a sweat, but he is competing in a fast-growing sport throughout the state: trapshooting. “It’s been a growing thing all over Number of kids on Minnesota,” Kinnear clay target shooting said. “It’s starting teams in area towns to be the biggest thing in Minnesota. Austin: 59 In Austin, people are Southland: 13 just starting to shoot Blooming Prairie: 25 more and there’s LeRoy-Ostrander: 18 more younger huntGrand Meadow: 28 ers coming up.” The Austin clay and trapshooting team is in its fourth season and had 59 members this past fall. The surrounding schools of Southland, Blooming Prairie, LeRoy-Ostrander and Grand Meadow had about 84 students out for their clay and trapshooting teams. The spring state clay and trapshooting tournament, which is held in Alexandria, draws about 8,000 kids and is one of the largest shooting events in the world. Kinnear enjoys going out and shooting with his team, whether it be on a meet day or just for practice. He’s made plenty of friends from the clay and trapshooting team, and he’s also learned to compete with a mental edge.
Alex Kinnear heads back to the end of the line after his turn to shoot this past October during a shoot for the Austin Trap Team at the Cedar Valley Conservation Club.
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44 Progress 2016 Pictured Left to Right: Alvina LeTendre (owner), Amy, Josh, Jeff, Stephen, Gene, Erich, Johnny, Tavo, Debbie, Gary LeTendre (owner)
Competitive shooting isn’t just about pulling the trigger. It requires the shooter to read where the disc is and find it in an instant before the target passes out of range. Kinnear said frustration can build quickly when he’s off on his timing. “It’s more of a mind game when it comes down to shooting,” he said. “You can be off by the tiniest bit and you’ve just got to work with yourself. The coaches can tell you the right way to do it and that’s kind of nice.” The task of shooting also keeps the mind sharp. Kinnear said that it has helped him gain mental strength for other tasks in life. “It teaches you to finish things,” he said. “When you’re out there on the line you’ve got to finish it and you can’t walk away. You always want to finish no matter what and that’s a big benefit for a lot of kids in different ways. You have to finish no matter how bad it gets, because it can get real nasty.” Kinnear said the key to shooting well is to relax and have fun. When he tries to shoot well he struggles, but if he goes out to have a good time, he finds himself shooting much more accurately. The other key is to get the angles and marks down ahead of time, so you simply shoot to a spot that you know the target is going to be. Just about any type of student — small or large — can be on the team as there aren’t a lot of physical requirements. “We can use all of the help we can get. We keep growing bigger as a team,” Kinnear said. “You’re still going to get a little bit of a workout. You’re not going to be running and you’re not going to have people yelling at you. People out here are going to help you and you’re going to have fun. That’s what it’s about.” The main issue with clay target shooting is that it can be expensive. Although, the Packers allow team members to borrow guns, the costs of shells adds up quickly when an entire team is competing. The team has held fundraisers to garner money to buy shells. P
“It’s more of a mind game when it comes down to shooting. You can be off by the tiniest bit and you’ve just got to work with yourself.” — Alex Kinnear
Alex Kinnear jokes with teammates after missing a shot at the Cedar Valley Conservation Club.
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Alex Kinnear is one of the many who make up the Austin Trap Team, which does its shooting at the Cedar Valley Conservation Club.
IRECTING TH D E By Rocky Hulne While coaching can look like a glamorous position to any onlooker, it actually is a position that comes with hard work, long hours and plenty of pressure. Coaches have to log in time at practice to prepare their players for the season, they have to deal with the pressures of having a winning record and sometimes they deal with all kinds of distractions people might not have to face in any other line of work. Four coaches who passed through the halls of Austin High School are making their ways in the field in different aspects, but they all share the same passion to pass on knowledge to and inspire a younger generation.
Todd Johnson, Austin girls basketball coach
Todd Johnson loves to coach and picked up the habit early when he was the assistant football coach for Ames High School in Iowa, which sparked a 35-year stint of Johnson coaching in one fashion or another. When Johnson had two daughters, he decided to pursue coaching girls basketball. Coach Todd Johnson looks on from the bench against Rochester Mayo this year. Photo by Rocky Hulne
There are many young people in Mower County who are in need of positive adult role models in their lives. Recognizing this MOWER COUNTY MENTORING is an organization whose goal is to provide the needed adult role models (mentors) for our in-need youth. The success of this program is reliant on the adult volunteers who become youth mentors. Thank you so much to those who have volunteered their time, resources and energy to be mentors in the past year:
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Greg Baskin Mark Beirele Brad Bergstrom Carolyn Bogott Brytnie Carolyn Miguel Garate Joylnn Winkel Gentz Dan Hernandez Royce Helmbrecht
Arlen Knight Betsy Knight Ken Kroupa Pete & Vicki Kuhlman Holly Long Scott Long James Loven Shari Mason Steve Mason
Melodee Morem Mark Nibaur Matt Niesen Heidi Olsen Rachel Olson Robert Stratton Allison Wong Jeremy Williams
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Mower County Mentoring is a United Way funded organization
Lyle-Pacelli head coach Justin Morris celebrates the Athletics’ quarterfinal win over Mountain Iron-Buhl in the Minnesota Class A State Girls Basketball Tournament at Mariucci Arena in March 2015. Herald file photo
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When Justin Morris was attending Austin High School, he had to give up playing basketball due to a heart condition, but he never lost his interest in the game. Morris got into coaching almost as soon as he got to college and he ended up helping start the summer Amateur Athletic Union basketball program called the Minnesota Fury, which is now one of the largest programs in Minnesota. Eventually, he made his way into the high school ranks
and hit his niche when he took over the Lyle-Pacelli program. Morris coached the Athletics to their first ever Minnesota Class A Girls State Basketball Tournament last season, which was a dream come true for an LP team that once struggled to stay within 40 points of their opponent on a nightly basis. Morris said having seasons like last year is one of the most rewarding experiences a coach can have.
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Justin Morris, Lyle-Pacelli girls basketball coach
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“I thought it would help me figure out girls, but it didn’t,” Johnson joked. Johnson, who is an alumnus of Austin High School said it means a lot to be coaching the Packers. He said his team has a great attitude and is very coachable. “I love being around the kids,” Johnson said. “They’re just so fun, even after a loss. It’s like you’re a family and they’ll never forget the time they had together. There’s life lessons you can pick up from it and everyone here is part of the Packer family.”
Continues from Page 47 “They never really thought they could go to a state tournament and to come within a hair of being state champions was amazing,” Morris said. “It was almost like an out of body experience to see our kids have that kind of success. Coaches are inherently unselfish and they want to see other people succeed.” Morris coaches his teams with an intense and boisterous style. He’s very vocal in practice and on game nights as he gets into the action. “Some people like it and some people don’t,” Morris said. “But I care about our team and I care about our program. I don’t think anybody can question that.” Morris said he enjoys coaching and he loves the competitive aspect that sports bring. “I absolutely love it,” he said. “For me, it’s the competitive environment associated with having our kids be great and having them be the best they can possibly [can] every day. I’m a competitive person and I want to be the best at everything, and I want that from my kids.”
lege, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school in Winfield, Kansas, has dreams of coaching for a career and it’s begun by him presenting himself as a figure of authority, even though he’s only a few years older than some of the players he is coaching. “It’s definitely different,” the said. “You’ve got to separate yourself. You’re not a player anymore. You’ve got to
when he’s teaching and things start to work out. “It’s pretty rewarding when you put in a lot of time in meetings and practice rooms and watch guys transition that into success on the field,” he said. “There’s no greater feeling [than] when it finally clicks for them. It’s a good feeling watching them succeed.” Justice was a competitor in high school as an athlete, but he said the coaching world can be even more competitive — especially when jobs are on the line. “If you’re not winning, you’re probably not going to have a job for long. It starts to be more competitive than in high school,” Justice said.
Jeff Nelson, University of New Mexico head volleyball coach
When Jeff Nelson was attending Austin High School, he was drawn to the sport of volleyball. Even though the school had no men’s team, he found a way to play co-ed volleyball at the YMCA two or three nights a week, which proved to be valuable for Nelson, who ended up playing volleyball at Ball State University, which reached the Final Four in 1985. Nelson has coached Nate Justice, Nate Justice, quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator at Southwestern College. Photo provided Division I volleyball for quarterbacks coach and pass 20 season’s and currently game coordinator at Southwestern College has a career record of 397-234 with stints at the University demand player’s attention and demand their respect. It’s a Justice knows exactly what it’s like to be an athlete. He weird dynamic at first, because you have guys that are close of New Mexico, Texas Tech and the University of San Franplayed football, basketball and baseball with the Packers cisco. to your age. They can see right through somebody that’s when he was in high school, but now he’s moved past that Nelson is grateful for all of the support he received in trying to put on a front.” and is focused on coaching. Austin, and he credited everyone who helped keep him inJustice enjoys seeing work over the week pay off on the Justice, who is a full-time coach for Southwestern Colvolved in volleyball while he was in town. field. He loves to see it when a team starts to understand
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He stays in communication with a few people from Austin and he said their support is important. “Being a male in a town the size of Austin and finding volleyball for a lifetime is pretty amazing,” Nelson said. “It would’ve never happened if some of the adults hadn’t taken me under their wing and let me play. I’m immensely grateful for it.” Coaching at the college level requires a lot more work than coaching at the high school level. Nelson has to recruit his players, which means he needs athletes that can fit into his system and play how he wants them to.
He said it’s getting harder and harder to stay competitive in Division I. “At this level, it’s so challenging and it’s really just a challenge to stay on top of your game and get a good program every year. There’s so many good programs,” Nelson said. “When I started in 1986, the top 20 hardly ever changed and those teams hardly ever lost. Now the 100th-best team can beat you.” Nelson learned the game early by assisting at Arizona State University, and he’s seen the game change over the
years. He said it’s a lot tougher to be patient in today’s sports world. “You kind of have to evolve,” he said. “Society has really changed and we live in the age of instant gratification. Coaches have had to evolve, and it’s a big challenge to meet the needs of all of your student athletes.” After all of these years, Nelson still loves to see his players improve on the court. “The best part is teaching and seeing kids get better,” he said. “You see their face light up when they get better.” P
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Jeff Nelson, University of New Mexico head volleyball coach. Photo provided
These maps, provided by Mower County, show the downtown site of the new Spam Museum to the left and the Oak Park Mall site that will soon be home to a new Hy-Vee.
Anchoring Austin Downtown Austin, 18th Avenue Northwest are primed for future with new Spam Museum, Hy-Vee on the way By Jason Schoonover
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ustin is on the cusp of major changes to the community’s two largest retail hubs. The changes are the sort that towns rarely see — and even more rarely see at the same time. In downtown, a new Spam Museum will open in a few months on Main Street between between Second and Fourth Avenues. “That’s going to be a huge asset for the downtown areas; it gives the downtown area a true anchor,” Austin Area Chamber of Commerce Director Sandy Forstner said. Then on 18th Avenue Northwest, Hy-Vee acquired Oak Park Mall last November with the help of a $3.65 million Hormel Foundation grant and help from the city. The company is in the early stages of demolishing the former Oak Park Mall to make room for a new grocery store, which is expected to open in early 2017. As someone who’s lived in Austin for about nine years, Hy-Vee manager Todd Hepler sees the store as something that will attract both shoppers and perhaps other retailers to Austin. “I think it’s going to change the entire re-
tail outlook for Austin on 18th,” he said.
Downtown
Traditionally, downtowns were the retail centers of communities — they were the hub and home to most retail businesses. But that was at a time when retail businesses were largely owner-operated. Now big box stores and corporations have absorbed a large portion of the market, and many of those are located on the edge of communities in places like 18th Avenue Northeast, which Forstner says largely started in the 1980s. “Business has changed a lot in the last 30 to 40 years, it really has,” he said. But Austin’s downtown remains predominantly owner-operated businesses, and Forstner said most are doing very well. “Downtown remains the center of your town,” he said. “You might have more square footage and more sales out at 18th Avenue, but [downtown] remains the heart of our community.” Forstner credited Austin’s Main Street Project with helping renovate more than 40 storefronts downtown from 2005 until it completed in 2014.
“If you look at our downtown area, you’ll see a very vibrant retail area,” Forstner said. “Particularly when you compare it to other main streets across the Midwest and the country, we have a strong downtown.” But it’s been several years since downtown Austin boasted a true anchor — something that draws people. Now, the Spam Museum is expected to attract thousands of visitors each year. “I think it’s going to really change the face of downtown, at least for a number of years” Forstner said. But the hope is that it won’t just be the Spam Museum that benefits. The hope is that other downtown businesses — restaurants, coffee shops and retailers — will benefit from the increased traffic. Vision 2020’s Destination Downtown Committee and downtown merchants have discussed ways to capitalize off the increased traffic from the museum. Forster also sees the location as a beneficial spot for the museum too, as tourists will be able to enjoy other community amenities more easily. “Within walking distance they can go to the Paramount [Theatre], they go to the
Hormel Home, they can go to a pizza place, they can go to the coffee house, they can stop in at Twice is Nice — all those opportunities exist,” Forstner said, adding there wasn’t as much retail at the old location on North Main Street. “I think it will be a much better experience for the tourist as well,” he added. “That’s a big deal right there.” The museum opening will come in grand style too. A soft opening in spring for the Spam Museum’s grand opening will be during Hormel Foods Corp.’s 125th anniversary celebration, which Forstner said will put the spotlight on Austin in a positive way through much positive PR and economic activity. The Band Perry is set to perform at a July 29 celebration on the grassy space north of the Mower County Jail and Justice Center right by the new museum. Forstner expects the celebration will likely help everyone from the hospitality industry to the retailers and tourist attractions around town. The Spam Museum move also opens up more Hormel corporate space for the company at the old site beside the south corporate offices.
“That’s going to be a huge asset for the downtown area; it gives downtown a true anchor.” — Sandy Forstner,
Chamber executive director on the new Spam Museum
“I think it’s going to change the retail outlook for Austin on 18th.” — Todd Hepler, Hy-Vee manager on the new Hy-Vee
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Austin’s new Hy-Vee will look similar to exterior of the new store in Oakdale, Minnesota. Photo provided by Hy-Vee
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Plus, Forstner said downtown has another economic and employment anchor in the Mower County Government Center and Mower County Jail and Justice Center, which together employ more than 200 people.
18th Avenue
Austin’s new Hy-Vee should resemble the new hot foods area at the new Oakdale, Minnesota, store. Photo provided by Hy-Vee 365 to 575 or 600.
Looking to the future
Despite two major projects moving forward, Forstner recognizes there’s room for improvement. While he says Runnings has been a major addition in the former Kmart store, Austin lost its Staples in 2014 and Target in early 2015. The Target space is one that’s especially difficult to fill, but Forstner said they’ve reached out to potential tenants. “There’s some work to do on 18th Avenue,” Forstner admitted. P
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people can prepare meals for an entire week. Hepler said the store will present a positive image for Austin as a community with many positive things happening, which could boost retail. Along with a new store front, Hy-Vee has already done work to improve the parking lot, which had been a point of public contention for many years. Forstner added stores lining the parking lot will see benefits as well, and they could also see the volume increase in their stores. Hepler previously estimated the new store will propel Hy-Vee’s employees from
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pharmacy. The marketplace fresh grill will also bring a large restaurant, and a bigger liquor store will bring far more items people couldn’t previously buy in Austin. The store will bring a larger health food area, an international food section for Austin’s diverse population, a place to buy bulk food, and a large restaurant. The store will also feature a new department dedicated to the quickly-growing area of online buying, along with options to buy dishes, detergents, paper towels and soaps, which aren’t normally associated with a grocery store. Hepler said the store will also feature a gathering space where
Austin Daily Herald
Though Forstner calls downtown the heart of Austin’s retail community, 18th Avenue Northwest has grown into anchor in itself. In fact, Forstner said Hy-Vee is arguably the largest retail draw in Austin, and a new, marquee grocery story will be a benefit to the community. “I think the Hy-Vee projects a very positive development for 18th Avenue,” Forstner said. “I think it fixes a retail problem we’ve had for a number of years.” Hepler agreed, noting the move will replace something many saw as an eyesore with something new. “Now we’re going to see something that’s absolutely beautiful,” he said. The store, Hepler says, will make for something that makes Austin and the store look like a destination, as the store will be one more commonly associated with towns like Rochester or Des Moines. “It will look like a town that’s vibrant,” he said. Similar to the Spam Museum, Hepler sees Hy-Vee serving as an anchor for 18th Avenue. And it will be a destination drawing people to town to not only buy groceries, but to get other services too. “It’s really going to draw a lot of people back to Austin to do all of their shopping,” Hepler said. Forstner agreed. “They do tremendous volume,” he said. “People come from northern Iowa to go to our Hy-Vee. With this new store, that will increase.” New and enhanced departments will only boost Hy-Vee as a draw. The store will feature a doctor and a drive-thru
Work continues on the Live Learning Center, part of The Hormel Institute’s expansion.
Building in Austin
McGough Construction leading 4 major projects for Institute, Hormel Story by Jason Schoonover, Photos by Eric Johnson
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An unassuming, white temporary work trailer parked along Eighth Street Northeast may be easily overlooked by the casual eye against a backdrop of The Hormel Institute’s expanded facade. But much work has been completed through that trailer in the last few years through millions of dollars in construction projects that will shape the Austin community for years to come. That trailer is the temporary Austin home of McGough Construction, a Twin Cities based company that is playing a key role in several Austin projects. McGough is leading work on The Hormel Institute’s expansion to add 20 labs, The Institute’s $4.5 million Live Learning Center, the new Spam Museum downtown, and Hormel Foods Corp.’s research and development facility. “Austin’s been very, very good to us,” McGough Construction Executive Daniel McKay said. McGough, which also has an office in Rochester, was first introduced to Austin through the Hormel Institute’s 2007-08 expansion, which tripled The Institute’s size and helped it grow from 60 employees to more than 120. The project earned McGough rave reviews from Institute leaders, and Associate Director Ann Bode praised the company’s dedication to safety and quality. “We were very happy with it,” Bode said. “They were very cooperative, very knowledgeable. They really try to do the right thing.” Bode noted The Institute building committee behind the 2007-08 project included representatives from Hormel and The Hormel Foundation, which may have helped McGough land other work in the community. “Because they did such a nice job, they really were able to expand that into a whole lot of other jobs here in Austin, people say that,” Bode said.
McKay said McGough works to promote integrity and honesty while building relationships in the community. McGough would go on to work on remodel and additional projects at St. Olaf Lutheran Church and St. Mark’s Lutheran Home, along with Hormel Foods Corp.’s corporate north expansion. McKay admits it’s unique to be working on multiple projects at the same time in a community like Austin. “I would say that’s very rare,” he said. “Again, this has been a very unique opportunity for us — working on four projects.” Though McGough is now working on four separate projects in Austin, they’re all different and the projects include separate construction crews and multiple superintendents, though a few oversee multiple projects. The Institute labs and Hormel R&D facilities share similarities as scientific research facilities, but McKay notes the Live Learning Center and Spam Museum projects are unique. The Institute expansion will add 20 labs and about 120 new employees. Institute leaders secured $13.5 million in state bonding funds in 2012 and matched that with contributions from the Hormel Foundation, which further donated $9.5 million for technology and recruiting efforts as the Institute finishes this expansion. At the same time, the Institute’s $4.5 million Live Learning Center, which will feature a 250-seat auditorium, multipurpose conference room and more, will be finished this year. Hormel’s new R&D facility is being built on 13.5 acres at 2207 and 2107 Eighth Drive NE, north of corporate north. It’s for the company’s microbiology and chemistry labs. Work should wrap up this fall. The Spam Museum is set to open this spring before a grand opening this July. Despite the varied focus of projects in Austin, McGough brings experience in both research facilities and in performing arts facilities.
McGough Construction
The company was incorporated by Pete McGough and his six sons in 1956. Six generations of the McGough family have worked in the company, which is headquartered in St. Paul with offices in Rochester, St. Cloud, Phoenix, Fargo and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Notable past McGough Construction projects in Austin:
•The Hormel Institute’s 2007-08 expansion •Hormel’s corporate north expansion •St. Olaf Lutheran Church, 22,000-square-foot addition •St. Mark’s Lutheran Home expansion
Statewide past projects
•Guthrie Theater, 285-000-saquarefoot with three theaters, offices, shop and parking garage in Minneapolis •Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, construction of 1,900-seat Main Hall and 306-seat McKnight Threatre •3M Pharmaceutical Development Facility •Rosedale Center, interior renovation
McGough has completed many notable projects across the state. It built the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts along with work on medical facilities like Medtronic’s corporate headquarters and work for Mayo in Rochester. The company also has experience with higher education projects at Carleton College in Northfield, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, the University of Minnesota and Hamline University. McKay attributed much of McGough’s success to the McGough family, which still owns the company today, and to the company’s strong workers. “We believe we have some of the best, if not the best people, in the industry,” McKay said.
Dan McKay,
McGough Construction in Roseville •Medford Outlet Mall, 107,000-squarefoot retail addition and site development •Basilica of St. Mary renovation in Minneapolis •Renovation / recreation of Historic Fort Snelling in St. Paul •Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, construction of 777,000-square-foot site
But it’s not just McGough workers. During the peak of work on the four Austin projects, McKay estimated the company had 80 to 90 tradesmen working in Austin, and many were local contractors. McGough strives to use local contractors whenever possible. “We believe we’ve built a strong relationship with the local subcontractor community and the local vendors,” McKay said. “That’s been very important to us.” After many marquee projects in Austin, McGough doesn’t have any other work slated for the immediate future, but company leaders are looking to maintain a presence in Austin. “Austin, it’s been remarkable, it really has,” McKay said. P
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Randy Breitbarth: Owner of the Oasis Bar & Grill in Dexter
Q: What have you learned about Dexter from running the business? A: It’s a great tight-knit community where everybody is very friendly and helpful. Q: How has the business changed since you bought it? A: We cleaned everything from top to bottom, opened it up to provide more eating room, brought in a new menu with high quality food with the best burgers in
Q: What’s your favorite food, drink available at the Oasis? A: Our famous rib-eye steak sandwich with an ice cold beer. You can’t go wrong with that. Q: What’s one thing your customers don’t know about you? A: I’m the oldest of five great brothers. Q: If you were on a deserted island, what books would you bring? A: A good survival book. Q: If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you would buy?
Q: When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? A: Pro golfer Q: If you could have starred in one movie or TV show, what character would you be? A: Jason Bourne Q: What would be on your bucket list? A: Travel the world. Q: What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you while on the job? A: Spilled a beer on a lady. Thankfully she was very nice about it. Q: If you could spend one day with one person in history, who would it be? A: Either one of my grandpas. P
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Q: What’s the best part of running the Oasis? A: Seeing the regular customers, meeting new ones, and getting to work with my family and friends every day.
Q: What does the business mean to the Dexter community? A: It’s been a staple of Main Street Dexter for many years. It’s a great place to come grab a burger and beer and just visit with the locals.
A: A house on a golf course somewhere warm, and I’d probably get the wife something nice too.
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Q: What’s the most challenging part of running the business? A: Consistency. The bar and grill business can be hit and miss depending on the season and the economy, but we have great customers and employees that help out.
southeastern Minnesota.
Austin Daily Herald
Q: How long have you owned the Oasis? A: Just over a year.
omes away from home H
Historic Brownsdale houses invite visitors to experience rural life By Jordan Gerard
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hree houses just north of Brownsdale have been converted to guest houses for any person and any event. IBI Data’s president Katherine Harte opened the houses to be rented for the public after they’ve been in her family for generations. The houses are named after Harte’s grandmother, Jessie; mother, Josie; and father, Jim. “Katherine wanted to open up the houses for the community to use and she felt like there would be a niche for people who wanted to come experience country living, like she did growing up,” said Sherry Anderson, a programmer at IBI Data and also the business development/property management for the homes. “She wanted a place for people in town because there’s really not a place for people to stay in Brownsdale.”
Harte wanted to keep the houses in the family and being used. “She didn’t want the houses to go to anyone else,” Anderson added. “She wanted to keep it in the family and keep it being used and appreciated.” The first guesthouse, Jessie’s, opened in 2012 and sleeps up to seven people. It’s ideal for adults and older children but not younger children, due to more fragile items in the house. Anderson said the heart of this house is the kitchen and the back patio also receives a lot of positive feedback. Jessie’s house costs $175 a night. Josie’s Guest House, opened in 2014, is adjacent to Jessie’s and can sleep up to 11 people. Anderson said this house is almost two separate houses because there are two separate kitchens and full bathrooms, one upstairs and one downstairs. This house is more suited to families with younger children, as it has more room and a fenced-in
backyard. Josie’s also costs $175 a night. Jim’s Guest House is the final property owned by Harte’s family and will open in spring 2016. This guest house will sleep up to six people and it’s also more suited to younger children. It will have a fenced-in yard. The cost per night is not yet decided for Jim’s, but since it’s smaller than Jessie’s and Josie’s, it may be less, Anderson said. All of the houses are original and intact, though Josie’s has a 1980s addition upstairs. Anderson described the houses as great places for large extended families who come for the holidays, but perhaps there isn’t enough space in the family’s own house. In addition to family gatherings, the houses have hosted a plethora of events including, but not limited to, birthday parties, bridal showers, barbecues and girl’s getaway weekends. The houses tend to stay busy throughout the year and especially in the summer.
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Sherry Anderson sits in a sitting room at Jesse’s House in Brownsdale, one of three guest houses people can use as retreats or events. Photos by Eric Johnson “We get really busy once spring hits and all through the summer,” Anderson said. “It dies down in the winter, of course, but we’re usually booked all summer long from April to October, which are the busiest months. We do have people come and work for local businesses and they stay at the guest houses during the week instead of a hotel.” Visitors to the houses tell Anderson they “can’t believe how peaceful and beautiful it is.” Guests can walk the trails on the IBI Data campus, explore Brownsdale’s shops and surrounding cities’ attractions. Four Daughters Vineyard & Winery, which is about a half-hour away, is also a popular attraction. “I hope that it has a good impact [on Brownsdale]. They enjoyed going to the former cafe in Brownsdale and I know when that closed, some people were bummed out,” Anderson said. “We are very rural though, and there’s Green Way, some antique shops that closed hurt the attraction to the area.” Anderson said people like having a place that’s not too far away and it attracts families because they can cook their own food and they don’t have to go out to eat. “Some people who come here just don’t want to do anything. They don’t care if they go anywhere or see anyone,” she said. “People absolutely love coming here.” Guests to the houses come from near and far. Anderson said guests come from the midwest, Texas, Colorado and even as far away as Australia. She added many customers have stayed at the houses previously. The homes are mainly found on www.vacationrentalbyowner.com (www.vrbo.com). They also have a Facebook page and their own website for Jessie’s and Josie’s house. “A few groups book the same weekend every year so they get that weekend they want,” Anderson said. Future plans include remodeling the barn and outdoor buildings so they can host family events there. They had a fall family event with a petting zoo and pony rides. “We’re focusing on getting Jim’s done and once we get that established we are trying to get the family farm renovated for people to use and have events up there,” Anderson said. IBI Data also uses the houses for courses, meetings and employees can also use the houses. Anderson said the plan is to keep the houses indefinitely and as long as there is a need for it. “You could spend the night in the houses and then go over to the farm and experience farm life. That’s one of her visions. Just have the farm being used for what it’s supposed to be used for,” Anderson said.
A large sitting room has plenty of windows allowing light and affording a great view out.
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The website for Jessie’s is www.jessiesguesthouse.com; the website for Josie’s is www.josiesguesthouse.com. P
Lyle’s Story by Jordan Gerard | Photos by Eric Johnson
Gift
Mary Witt, owner of The Silver Pear Gift Shop in Lyle, has a variety of items available including a framing aspect to the business.
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nside a small Lyle gift shop, home decor abounds with paintings, lamps, sconces and artwork and a framework shop with a wall of many different frame borders, everything set in place by the shop’s owner and designer, Mary Witt. Witt’s return to her hometown is a bit like coming full circle. Witt originally opened as Fast Frame Gallery in Rochester after her younger brother owned three of those shops in the metro area and was looking for a place in Rochester when he heard an existing frame shop in Rochester was closing. He asked his sister to show him around Rochester for the new store and when they found the right place, he fell in love with it, Witt said. “He asked if I would run the store and I said, ‘No, I’m going to buy it,” Witt recalled.
An example of some of the items people can decorate a home with.
Witt opened the store on Aug. 2, 1999. Business was great for Witt. Customers would ask her about different accessories and accents to pair with their framed art and that’s when she opened The Silver Pear Gift Shoppe in 2003. As artwork, accessories and other items started to fill her showroom, it added an art gallery feeling to the store. Witt said 90 percent of items are ones she designed and framed herself. “It kept getting larger and larger,” Witt said. The items in her shop are unique and in order to keep that uniqueness, the item never comes back into the store once it’s sold. “The customers really appreciate that,” Witt said. “It’s very unique and they don’t see it anywhere else.” Recently, Witt moved the store to her hometown of Lyle, where she plans to continue filling the store with unique items. Witt’s husband, Ivan, is self-employed, but helps out at the store when she needs him, as do her other family members.
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Lyle brings a very different business environment than Rochester. In Rochester, two other framers were on the same block — both had been established there for many years. But Witt said she was blessed for the customers in her store. She also had contracts with Mayo Clinic and a pharmacy to hang things in their offices. Witt would also go into homes and work with clients to see
what they wanted and work up a plan for them. She also had two people helping with framing and a designer that helped her out because she was out of the store a lot. In Lyle, business is a bit more slow, but that hasn’t stopped Witt. “I’ve been very satisfied here,” she said. “The town has been very kind to me and the surrounding areas
have been fabulous. I’m as busy as I want to be.” Her customer base is still very diverse and they can come from anywhere. She said the customer base is different from Rochester, but more personal. “It’s become like a big family, which I really appreciate. They get to know my great-grand babies and I get to know theirs. It’s like a big family and I really enjoy it,” Witt said. P
Mary Witt, owner of the Silver Pear Gift Shop in Lyle, sits in front of a wall lined with framing options.
Mary Witt
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Age: 75 Current town: Lyle Hometown: Grand Rapids, Minnesota Fun fact or hobby: Witt has four children, nine children and 11 great-grandchildren. While her chief hobby is her family, she also enjoys reading, going to casinos and spending summer weekends on their boat in Lake City, Minnesota.
A sign on Las Vegas Boulevard advertises for the Black Label Bacon Strip Show at Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub on Nov. 6, 2015, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Denise Truscello/ Getty Images for The Black Label Bacon
Driven by experience Brand managers promote Hormel mainstays through consumer experiences By Jason Schoonover
From Austin to the world
Black Label Bacon flaunting its flavors in a Vegas strip show is only one example of how In a conference room at Hormel Foods marketing ideas have flowed through HorCorp.’s north corporate office in Austin, Nick Schweitzer pointed to a television on mel’s brand managers in Austin and to loyal and new customers alike. the far wall and recalled pitching one of A Utilimaster food truck drove across the his team’s most ambitious marketing ideas country last summer to bring Spam to new to company leadership. tastebuds, and in 2014 a bacon-fuThe idea: a Hormel Black Label eled bike toured the country. Bacon strip show in Las Vegas. Hormel and its brand managers “Crickets for about 15 straight have promoted the company’s minutes,” Schweitzer laughs. “I marquee brands for decades, but had no idea what was about to brand managers have found new happen.” ways in recent years to promote The company was looking for their brands. ways to promote its growing Much of that creativity has been Black Label line and its newest driven by social media. Over the flavors. Nick last five years, the explosion of in“We want to put our greatest Schweitzer teraction through social media led assets on center stage, which is Hormel’s brand managers to seek out ways our premium strips of bacon,” said Schfor consumers to experience their brands weitzer, the Black Label brand manager. and then ultimately share their experiences “Nobody had taken over Vegas,” he online. added. “Social media drastically changed that,” Schweitzer’s pitch struck the right cord, Schweitzer said. “Because if our ideas aren’t and The Black Label Bacon Strip Show shared, we’re not going to reach the eyeballs took the stage at Marquee Nightclub and that we need to.” Dayclub in November 2015.
All of the decisions on brands are made in Austin at the corporate office, where they annually come up with the strategy for their brands. They then brief the advertising agencies they work with and their creative team, BBDO out of Minneapolis, to form the creative ideas. “Much of it happens right here in this building,” Spam Brand Manager Jen Nolander said. “They come down here and they pitch us, they show us their ideas, and then all of decisions are made right here in Austin.”
the campaign in 2015 after Nolander and others saw a trend of high-end chefs using Spam products in recipes, so they looked for ways to capitalize and bring the idea to customers. The Spamerican Tour was born, and Food Network chef Sunny Anderson created a Coconut Spam Spears with Spicy Pineapple Chutney dish that was a mainstay on the menu throughout the tour. They also partnered with a new chef in each city. “We really gave our fans a true taste of the Spam experience,” Nolander said. Nolander liked that these recipes weren’t exactly grandma’s Spam hits the road Spam hamburger, so it was great Nolander says Hormel’s marto get new, higher-end recipes to keting team recognizes the value consumers’ tastebuds. The tour inJen of building brand experiences for teracted with fans and brought the Nolander product to them. The tour started consumers. The idea is to let people experience what the brand has to in Los Angeles and ended at the Austin Artoffer in unique ways. Works Festival. For Spam, that’s been done most recently Nolander was thrilled to see fans engage through the Spam Can! campaign aimed to with Anderson and with the brand across the show what Spam can do and how it can be country. used to “spice up everyday life,” as Nolander “It was just great to be able to see so many said. people at our events, at our food truck,” she The Spamerican Tour was just a big part of said.
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Inspired by trends
Nolander and Schweitzer also love the company’s campaign for Dinty Moore at www. moorejacks.com, which was inspired by a trend of urban hipster males. “That one is rock solid,” Schweitzer says with a laugh. The video ads feature plaid-clad hipsters attempting lumberjack challenges like trying to hurl axes at a target with little success.
Black Label Bacon Strip Show —31 different countries visited the live stream event at www.blacklabelbaconstripshow.com. —It was covered by People Magazine, Playbill magazine, the Washington Post, MSN, E! and more. —National coverage led to traffic from 49 U.S. states.
Outside the box
While a bacon strip show likely won’t be repeated, Schweitzer said he’s mulled a Broadway encore or a another plan entirely. While the burlesque show is a bold idea, Nolander and Schweitzer hint that there are other bold ideas they’ve left in the drawing board. “We challenge our creative teams to think really, really outside of the box,” Nolander said “It’s those sessions where we’re they’re sort of coming up with off-the-wall ideas that inspire what were actually bring to life.” Schweitzer teases he wants to take one bold idea off the shelf and see if it can’t be resurrected, but he’s tight-lipped on what that idea is. However, not all ideas make it past the brain-storming stage. “We’re professionally trained to say no in a lot of cases,” Schweitzer said with a laugh.
Tying it together
With the brand campaigns, Nolander noted everything has to tie together: the experiential marketing, television ads, Pinterest, social media, print ads and more. Hormel has been making bacon for more than 100 years, though Black Label dates to the 1960s, while Spam is approach its 79th birthday in July. The biggest challenge to Nolander is keeping brands with decades of history fresh and relevant. “I think it’s trying to find ways to stay fresh and relevant with changing consumers, and
Driven by Bacon
—142 countries visited the site, http://drivenbybacon.com. —It was covered by USA Today, Fox News, People Magazine, Fast Company, Food Beast and more. —National coverage led to traffic from every U.S. state
that’s why this experiential marketing plan works so well,” Nolander said. “It’s a way to get our message out in a new way.” Schweitzer and Nolander say their consumers are always at the forefront when they come up with campaigns. “That’s also a core part of a brand manager’s job: drive value, create profitability for your brand, but also make sure that at the forefront of everything you’re doing is with your consumer in mind,” Nolander said. When gauging success, the first goal is to drive value and profitability, and the Spam brand had a strong 2015. Another key is eyes, as they look at how many people are sharing and talking about the products through social media and how many media outlets cover their products. Hormel found out late last year that Spam was named one of the most interesting food trends of 2016 by Yahoo News. That shows the initiative to get people talking about Spam has been working. “The fact that outlets like Yahoo News and places like that keep picking it up help us sort of set our expectations for success as well,” Nolander said. After a successful 2015, the Spam Can! drive will continue to be the backbone of the Spam brand’s advertising moving forward. Length of a campaign depends on how well they’re performing. Bacon will be on year three of its Driven By Bacon campaign about Black Label being a quality bacon line. As for the tactics, they’re still working on some campaigns for the summer. However, Schweitzer is also focused on a new campaign on Black Label Canadian bacon. Nolander hinted that something like the Spamerican tour will return again, though they’re still in the planning stages. “I would not be surprised if we were to see the Spam Brand hit the road again,” she said. “There’s will be definitely more to come to there,” she added. P
Spamerican Tour
—13 markets visited. —122 days on the road. —142,000 samples or Spam products given out. —1.9 million people total attendance www.spam.com/Tour
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Spam hasn’t been Hormel’s only brand to hit the road and find unique ways to put a product on people’s plates and their minds. Schweitzer has been busy leading the Driven By Bacon campaign centered around the launch of six new premium bacon varieties. “We wanted a way to connect with consumers across the country, and we wanted to really highlight the way that these are handcrafted bacon and made here in Austin and really do that in a unique way that nobody else had done,” Schweitzer said. In summer 2014, Hormel and marketing firm BBDO Minneapolis sponsored a motorcycle fueled by organic biodiesel made from refined bacon grease. A documentary film crew followed the bike as it was ridden from Austin to San Diego, California, for the International Bacon Film Festival. They then released a 13-minute video, “Driven By Bacon,” which is still available on YouTube along with two shorter clips of highlights. Then in 2015 Hormel switched gears with the bacon burlesque show, which centered around the Black Label brands. It highlighted four premium strips. Along with the show, festivities featured a magician, and the bacon line was highlighted on one of the largest billboards in the world. Along with about 500 watching the show from the theater, Hormel also had millions watching through a live stream, which Schweitzer said will definitely be a part of future campaigns.
The company also took the campaign to the World Lumberjack Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin. That was another example of Hormel utilizing experiential marketing. “It connects to Dinty Moore so perfectly,” Schweitzer said. “And it’s taking a trend that’s, again, a trend that’s out there and capitalizing on it with your brand,” Nolander said.
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Driving the bacon brand
“I think overall it went great,” Schweitzer said. “The live stream was flawless. That hadn’t been done before, and we actually had streams on the strip going too.” BBDO Minneapolis was the mastermind behind the show, working with Schweitzer and his team on the concept. They then worked with Serino/Coyne, a New York City advertising agency, to bring the show to life. “It all starts here in Austin,” Schweitzer said. “And the ideas then are really about engaging consumers and giving them that true brand experience.” Traditionally bacon had been a supply chain and commodity based food, so there hadn’t been many major traditional marketing campaigns up until a few years ago. “The last two years have above and beyond been the most successful campaigns we’ve done for the Black Label brand,” Schweitzer said. Bacon has seen a surprising growth, and 75 percent of people in the U.S. eat bacon, according to Schweitzer, who said it’s growing and proving its not a fad as consumers are finding more ways to use it. He says it’s not just for breakfast anymore; it goes with lunch, dinners and desserts. “Where everyone called it a fad, that was a few years ago now, and it has just become one of those mainstream, indulgent foods; it makes everything better,” Schweitzer said, adding, “So does Spam.” “Spam makes everything Spamtastic,” Nolander added.
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The tour encouraged people to share their experiences on social media, and Hormel gave away a trip to Spam Jam in Waikiki, Hawaii. People could post of their experiences with the hashtag #spamcan and the company randomly selected a winner. Nolander has a fitting response to how the Spamerican tour did: “It was Spamazing,” she said.
One business at a time Mike Sasse is no stranger to owning and operating his own business. Before planning to open Willow Pet Hospital at 504 12th Ave. NW in Austin, he had run a construction business in the Twin Cities where he did all his own books and knew how to run a business, but he still sought help when working to open his vet clinic. Sasse went to the Austin Small Business Development, the Development Corporation of Austin and the Austin Chamber of Commerce for assistance. After meeting Community Concierge Kristen Olson, he was introduced to DCA Executive Director John Garry, who took him around town looking at rental properties, before he eventually talked with SBDC business consultant Mark Thein. Garry was pleased with the teamwork available to helping business people get assistance. “It’s how it’s supposed to work, it’s a good hand-off and I think it is working well,” he said. The last step in that hand-off, the SBDC, is still new to Austin and only beginning to make an impact.
Mike Sasse works in what will be his family’s new vet clinic, Willow Pet Hospital, in Austin.
Small Business Development Center promoting slow, steady approach to growth By Jason Schoonover | Photos by Eric Johnson
ing to learn something,” he said. When in business or starting a business, Thein admits there are many things to think about and discuss, and it’s even harder to do all of them on your own. “It’s important to be able to go somewhere where those resources are to get your questions answered,” Thein said.
Thein and the SBDC guide startup companies through business structure, and discuss whether they should be sole-proprietor, an LLC or a corporation. They help with a financial analysis, market research, a business plan and help answer questions about sales taxes. When you run a business, you need to focus on everything: finance, marketing,
customer services, daily bookwork — “It is all interconnected, it’s all related,” Thein said. The SBDC direct businesses to work legal counsel, banks and other development corporation “To get people in a position where they’re really ready to talk to, for example, the bank,” Garry said. “They’ve got all their information together. They’ve got their business plan.” Garry said Thein offers expert advice from several decades working for an SBDC that can help a business person frame up his or her thoughts and plans before talking to a lawyer, banker or accountant. The SBDC officials don’t take their place, they’re just one step and one stop in the process of starting a business.
Making connections
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The DCA, 329 N. Main, Suite 106-L, became the SBDC site in Austin in late 2014, making it the seventh satellite office for the SBDC in 11 southeast Minnesota counties at the time. The SBDCs are run through the state of Minnesota and offer free, confidential consulting for businesses. In simple terms, the SBDC aims to connect new and existing businesses to the various resources “We service both types of businesses — startups and existing,” Thein said. “We service all different sectors as far as business and industry go, so that would be retail, service, manufacturing and then we’ve seen an insurgence in technology companies.” To Garry, just about any business would benefit from working with Thein. He compared it to talking to a dietitian: “You’re go-
Mark Thein
Age: 49 Hometown and current town: Winona Fun fact: He served in the Peace Corps in Kenya. His work as a Small Business Development Center consultant brings him to towns like Austin, Rochester, Red Wing and more.
While the term small business is a loose term when it comes to SBDC help, the bulk of the businesses assisted have five to 10 employees or a sole proprietor businesses. “We’ll work with any size,” Thein said.
Facing obstacles
Mike and Sara Sasse and their children Anna, 10, and Will, 9 stand where the front desk of the families new vet clinic will be.
Slow, steady growth
The SBDC has helped about 23 companies or individuals since starting in Austin a little more than a year ago. The majority of those have been existing businesses to date. Their work averages about five hours per client. The SBDC receives surveys from all its clients, and to date they’ve been largely positive in the region to a 96 percent satisfaction rate in the Rochester region. The process has worked well thus far, and Thein has gradually increased the days he
works in Austin each month from every other week to four or five times a month, and they could increase again in 2016. “What I hear is that people really enjoy working with him and that he’s really been a big help,” Garry said. While the process is gradual, Garry said it can have a significant economic development impact by taking things a step at a time and helping businesses grow. “It’s not a big, big project often, it’s just a number of smaller interactions with businesses,” he said. Businesses can contact the SBDC and Thein at 507-459-3060 or Garry and the DCA at 507-433-9495. P
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ness idea.” “The spirit of those individuals that I meet with is just wonderful to see,” he added.
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do that, so that’s been helpful,” Sasse said. The SBDC offers continuing education classes in its Rochester classes, especially on things like sales taxes and business relationships and more. They work with other agencies like S.C.O.R.E. (The Service Corp of Retired Executives) to help businesses. Thein has worked as an SBDC consultant since 1996, and he said it’s become critical for business people to become smarter in following rules and regulations, with technology and with their budgeting. “What hasn’t slowed down and is just fantastic is the entrepreneurial spirit that just Americans have in general,” Thein said. “It’s just great. Everybody has a busi-
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Businesses face many obstacles, like a lack of capital. The SBDC helps businesses plan for startup costs, for expansions, to buy startup equipment and more. “While there are hurdles, it doesn’t stop people from expanding their existing business or trying to start their own, because there’s just so much passion behind it,” Thein said. One key question is often whether to buy or rent. Garry said renting often frees up more capital to use on equipment to enhance a business. Changing tax and regulatory requirements can be challenging too, and many often overestimate the marketplace. So Thein says a market analysis is important to know what to expect. “It’s important to be able to do that market research and understand that day one when you open up your door, floods of customers probably aren’t going to come in,” Thein said. Many companies overestimate the cash flow they’re expecting to have. It simply takes time for a new businesses to build a customer base, which can easily take up to three years, Thein says. “It really comes down to planning and helping our clients to plan,” Thein said. The SBDC has resources available to assist people expand their existing businesses. One of the key things it does is put loan packages together for Small Business Administration (SBA) loan guarantees. The SBDC also set the Sasses up with Strut Branding to help with name development and with their logo, much of which has been free of charge. “Just logo and name development, you can throw down $10,000 or more trying to
Dan and Holly Ravenhorst and their children Gerrit, from left, Ellery and Ethan will be moving to Haiti for a three-year stay, working with Back2Back Ministries. Photo by Eric Johnson
Hope in Haiti
Austin couple departs for 3 years of service to help orphans By Jenae Hackensmith
to witness people and families struggling to survive each day,” Holly wrote. “It is hard to drive by and not be able to help every person or child we see. It is frustrating to realize I can not fix every problem and that I must stay focused on our mission to care for the orphans we serve.”
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olly and Dan Ravenhorst and their three young children packed the last of their things in early September and got ready to move their family to Haiti for three years to work in missions. “Though we have had our struggles, we have seen more reward,” Dan wrote in an email from Haiti. “It’s hard not to complain, but when we get to see the kids we are here for to serve, it makes our calling here clear.”
The call
The commitment
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The Ravenhorsts grew up in Freeborn County before settling in Austin. But they left their home, careers, family and friends on Sept. 14, 2015, to follow God’s call to work with a Back2Back Ministries orphanages in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. “I guess [God] just gave us a passion for it,” Holly said. “He gave us a passion and a will and a determination to move forward to what it would look like to move there.” The Ravenhorsts sold their home and most of their things since they will be gone three years. Dan, who worked as an accountant at Hormel Foods Corp. for about 11 years, is working as a financial controller of the ministry, dealing with day-to-day costs, working in administration of the ministry, and helping with mission teams that come to Haiti. Holly, who has a background in child development and worked as a children’s ministry director at
Ellery lets the children at church play with her hair. Even though they don’t speak the same language they are still friends. Photo provided her church and taught preschool, is working in the orphanages with the children, assessing their needs and looking at how to better care for them. Holly explained the ministry works with a five-point child development plan, including looking at the spiritual, physical, educational, emotional and social needs of the children.
The goal for the children is to build relationships and learn to be self-sustaining, mature adults who can give back to the community when they are grown, which aims to break the cycle of poverty. Though the work is rewarding, it can pose its challenges. “I did not expect how difficult it would be
Holly and Dan traveled to Haiti on missions trips in the past, and said every time they came back home, they felt as though they left a part of themselves in Haiti. The couple felt called to take the next step and commit to the three-year commitment through Back2Back. Holly said they never imagined moving to Haiti when they first started going on mission trips. “We still miss our family, friends, church and neighborhood dearly, but Haiti is slowly starting to feel like home,” she wrote in an email. “We are falling in love with the children we serve and enjoy visiting the orphanages to continue to build into those relationships.” Holly’s sister and nephew have been able to visit, and Dan’s family plans to visit at the end of March through a mission trip.
Adjusting
Dan and Holly’s three children, Ellery, 8, Ethan, 4, and Gerrit, 1, are home-schooled with another family joining the ministry from Ohio, and Holly is providing Ethan preschool. Dan was excited to show his children what it means to follow God’s call and help others.
Dan Ravenhorst
“We’re really excited to teach our kids what it means to serve, and help them understand the needs of the kids down there,” he said. “And also just to build those relationships. They’re going to be able to take that with them forever.” Holly said in the four months the family has been in Haiti, everyone has adjusted well. Their sons enjoy playing outside every day. She noted Ellery had a tough time adjusting at first as she missed her school and friends back home. But Holly said their daughter now thanks God for clean water to drink, indoor plumbing, that she doesn’t go to be hungry and for a generator for electricity when needed, compared to taking those things for granted in the United States. Holly has had to adjust to life in Haiti as well. “Being a stay-at-home mom in Haiti looks very different from what it did in Austin,” Holly wrote. “I wash all my dishes by hand, hang all our clothes on a line to dry and since there are no options for preschool for my son, Ethan, I am now homeschooling him. Since it is not recommended that we are out after dark for safety reasons, we are home each night as a family. Life is much harder here but also more simple. I don’t feel like I am being pulled in a million different directions like I used to in the States, because there are no after-school activities for the kids such as sports, lessons and church events. I am able to have more quiet moments with God, spend more quality time with my children and focus on our calling to care for the orphans.”
Age: 34 Current town: Bon Repos, Haiti Hometown: Hollandale Fun fact: “I believe bacon makes any food better.”
Holly (Matson) Ravenhorst
Age: 34 Current town: Bon Repos, Haiti Hometown: Hayward Fun fact: “Dan and I are high school sweethearts, class of 2000 from Albert Lea High School.”
Funding
The couple has raised funding support for their journey to pay for living expenses, such as housing, health insurance, travel expenses, home furnishings like a generator, beds, tables, a refrigerator, a vehicle and 24-hour security. Before leaving, they met with people personally, asking if they wanted to be a part of what God is doing in Haiti, and they got a good response. “We would not be able to be on the mission field serving in Haiti without our support team that I would like to say thank you to — our support team who sacrifices their time to pray for us and also gives financially for our living expenses,” Holly wrote. “If anyone would like more information about how they can support us and join us on our journey please visit www. homesweethaiti.com.”
ABOVE: The Ravenhorsts committed three years in Haiti to work with children in orphanages. From left: back row, Holly, Gerrit, Dan. Front row, Ethan and Ellery. BELOW: Ann Marie, an orphan at Lighthouse Children’s Home, holds Holly and Dan’s youngest son, Gerrit.˜ TOP LEFT: Holly is photographed with a young girl named Fednina. Fednina is a new addition to Harvest Care Orphanage as she lost both of her parents to cholera. BOTTOM LEFT: Dan and Holly’s middle child, Ethan, meets the children at Harvest Care Children’s Home for the first time. Photos provided.
Learning through experience
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Throughout the experience, the Ravenhorsts have learned many things, but Holly said a big piece has been learning to become more dependent on God. Dan said it hasn’t been all easy, and though the couple is excited to see how God works through them, there have been tough times during the process. Recently, Dan experienced the health system in Haiti as he suffered from issues with kidney stones. While he received good care despite some unsanitary conditions, he admitted finding prescriptions was tough as the pharmacies were closed when he was released. Cost adjustments have also been difficult to get used to, as things easily taken for granted in the United States cost much more in Haiti, such as $9 for a jar of peanut butter, $15 for a frozen pizza and $90 for a frozen turkey. Yet things like water, bread and local fruit are very cheap. They also experienced some issues with their water system. “I didn’t expect to have so many water issues,” Dan wrote. “Our apartment had many leaks. Our water pump broke, and now we just recently have an issue with dirty water that we are pumping.” Another challenge has been the language barrier, which Dan admitted has been more tough than he expected. “I also did not expect that the language barrier would be as difficult as it is,” he added. “We are slowly learning the language, but it is challenging on top of many other things.”
for their life, a story he has written for them,” she said. “And then the goal that when they are out on their own, they would have the education and everything else they would need to be successful in their life and to give back to
their community. We’d love to raise up some leaders of Haiti that could be there to change their country.” Dan said past trips have shown them that going to serve in a third-world country isn’t
only about helping others — it’s also changed their own lives. “We thought we were going to Haiti to change them, but they changed us,” he said. P
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The couple has one thing in mind, which is following God’s call and seeing him work through their obedience. Holly hopes above all the children they work with get to know Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. “That they would know who they are and just because they’re orphans that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have an amazing plan
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Comfort through Psalms After brain tumor, Mizrachi shares hope through book, songs Tara Mizrachi used her faith and the reading of Psalms to get her through a scary medical issue and now she has collected some of her favorite’s into a book, “Software for the Soul,” to help others. Photos by Eric Johnson
By Jenae Hackensmith
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ustin author Tara Mizrachi found out the hard way how much the Book of Psalms can help during difficult times, which is what led her to write a book to help others find peace in Psalms during life’s struggles. “Psalms are very special and the Psalms themselves I think help people, and they’ve helped people for thousands of years,” Tara said. “All I’m doing is putting the Psalms into a format I guess that is easy for people to read.” Tara’s book “Software for the Soul: Psalms for Everyone” helps readers break down the Book of Psalms and make it more understandable.
Finding out the hard way
Tara Mizrachi
Age: 55 Current town: Austin Hometown: Born in Nassau County, New York, but she traveled around as her father was in the military. Fun fact: Tara enjoys music, volunteering with hospice volunteer with Mayo Clinic Health System, and has volunteered for many years bringing music to people.
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Although Tara loved Psalms throughout her life, she found it especially comforting during her battle with a brain tumor. She was diagnosed with the tumor in 2007. Though it was benign, the tumor was “really, really big,” she said. She described the night she found out. Her daughter was telling a story while they were doing dishes, but Tara couldn’t understand certain words. “Every time she said the word ‘pyramid,’ it didn’t go in my brain, I just couldn’t hear the word,” she said. “I don’t know why, but it just blanked out, and I kept saying, ‘What? What?’” What Tara didn’t know at the time was she was having a seizure and couldn’t understand language. She sat down and started talking nonsense, only able to say “I love you” or “Thank you.” Tara’s husband Victor Mizrachi, a radiologist at Mayo Clinic Health Systems, knew her behavior was abnormal and rushed his wife to Mayo Clinic Heath System in Austin, where a CT scan found a mass affecting the left hemisphere of her brain. The tumor was about five centimeters on the inside of the skull but on the outside of the brain. It had caused a midline shift, forcing the brain to shift over as it became too big. “It was really scary,” Tara said. “If you ever saw the picture of the MRI, it’s really scary because it’s this huge thing inside my [head].” After a helicopter ride to Rochester, Tara underwent surgery. “She was operated on and thank God it went well after that, so it was completely cured,” Victor said. “[I was] scared to death,” he added. “I was really frightened.” Tara was also frightened during the ordeal, thinking she was having a stroke and preparing herself for a life of not being able to speak. When she saw the look on everyone’s face after the CT scan, she knew things weren’t looking good. “I thought maybe I was going to die from this,” she said. After the operation, Tara knew she couldn’t sit idle with her second chance at life. “I said to myself, ‘What do I do with this extra time?’” she said. “Maybe God wanted me to do something, so I decided to do stuff with Psalms.”
Tara’s book
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Having spent a lot of time with Psalms throughout her life, Tara decided to write her book to give others comfort while going through struggles in life. She hoped to take something — Psalms — that can look intimidating and make it into something everyone can understand. Her husband was glad she took on the challenge. “I think the book is just a masterpiece, it’s a wonderful book,” Victor said. “It’s designed really to help people who are maybe struggling in life. They can sit and read about different Psalms. They can identify with different Psalms. Psalms sometimes are very difficult, but my wife has a way of making them much more simple to understand.” Tara’s knowledge stemmed from years of studying with Rabbi Pinchus Wechter, of the Institute for Jewish Humanities, and at the City University of New York. Her articles have appeared in the Fort Lauderdale News, Sun Sentinel, Kol Yaakov, Yated Newspaper, psalmsonline.org and psalms-tehillim.com. Her music has been featured in the Jerusalem Festival and the International Festival. She held classes at Fort Benning’s Jewish Chapel for men and women of the U.S. Army. Tara also spent a semester in Israel volunteering at an orphanage, where she really noticed how helpful Psalms could be. “I didn’t really realize how much they helped people until I was in Israel and was playing [songs of Psalms] for the orphanage, and the kids, they knew all the words and they just loved them, they loved to sing them,” she said She also hosted a discussion at the Austin Public Library in September 2015. Before the tumor, she would sing Psalms in songs and make tapes for her brother, Jeffrey Goodwin. “I felt like it would be something like when he heard my kids and me and everybody singing Psalms it would make him happy, because he’s had some health issues in his life,” she said. Jeffery, who has some developmental disabilities, agreed. “I listen her music real long time, still do, and I read part of the book so far,” he said. “Have slight trouble with reading, but I think it real easy understand and could help lot, book and music.” “She make very complicated Psalms real easy understand,” he added. After the tumor, Tara started to write more songs and write blogs and articles, along with the book. Tara felt the Psalms were needed to bring more holiness and positive strength into the world. Tara said people have been very receptive to her efforts, and she hopes to do host presentations and discussions in the future. She was working as a sub-para-professional for Austin Public Schools until taking time off to write her book and hopes to go back soon. She also volunteers for the Salvation Army and Mayo Clinic Health System Hospice. “I’m very proud of her, I’m incredibly proud of my wife,” Victor said. “Not just because she wrote the book but because of the person that she is. This is just a small extension of all her goodness.” P
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A local area Church Directory is printed every Friday in the Austin Daily Herald
Meditating on the word Story by Jenae Hackensmith | Photos by Eric Johnson
Pastor uses yoga, mediation to experience God
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oga isn’t what comes to mind for many when they think of the pastor at their church. But for Shari Mason, yoga is only one way to connect with God. Mason, the pastor of the United Church of Christ in Austin for about three years, didn’t hear God’s call to be a pastor until she was about 35. Now 59, she is just getting warmed up. Mason leads two yoga classes on Tuesdays — chair yoga at 4:15 p.m. and slow flow yoga at 5:30 p.m., both in the Fellowship Hall. The classes are open to everyone and cost $1, which helps provide a meal at the Salvation Army. Mason said the class is well attended by all ages, from the young to people in their 80s. “This summer I received my 200-hour yoga teacher training, because for me the mind, body, spirit connection is essential to wholeness,” Mason said. “And a yoga practice is one of the ways to care for our mind, body and spirit. To experience wholeness and community.” Yet yoga is only one path to God. One of Mason’s favorite quotes is from Rumi — “There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground” — as Mason feels God has provided a thousand ways to stay connected to the divine and to one another, so people never stop learning. Mason also leads a meditation class twice a month on Saturdays — sometimes the class does a guided meditation, sometimes a centering prayer and sometimes walking meditation. She said meditations are good ways to find God through silence and stillness. “I believe in the culture in which we live, we need to be intentional about times of stillness,” she said. “Meditation is one of the ways we can practice being still. Clearing space for new insights.” Mason has pastored for about 13 years, 10 of which were spent in Adams at two Lutheran churches. She attended seminary at St. Paul Lutheran Seminary and worked in several churches for her internship and first call. “When this position opened, I appreciate the theology at the United Church of Christ, so it was a good fit for me to continue serving in this place,” Mason said.
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Mason enjoys finding different ways to love and serve the community each week. She loves knowing people aren’t alone as they grow in the understanding of love, acceptance, grace and all the good things of life that give people purpose. Another way Mason finds God is through drum circle, which is led once a month. “It is another form of prayer, another form of meditation, some have described it as beating on God’s eardrum,” she said. “So sending our prayers not only towards one another but outside of the walls into the world.” Mason also tries to hold a few retreats a year, as well as putting on workshops throughout the year about topics many people struggle with, such as shame. “The more we can learn about ourselves, the more we can learn about healing, the more gifts we can give to others,” she said. “People are grateful for learning new ways to experience life,” she added. Age: 59 The church also hosts two support Current town: Austin groups — Cancer Support Group from Hometown: Aus6:30 to 7:30 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month along with Natin, raised south of tional Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, Oakland, was born at 7 p.m. every second and fourth Wednesand went to school day of the month. An Alcohol Anonymous in Austin support group also meets at the church Fun fact: Her favorite once a week. tree is the weeping “Support groups are such an important willow. They have part of ministry, letting people know that the strong roots and they’re not alone,” Mason said. flexible branches. The Congregational Preschool is another way leaders hope to serve the community. The preschool is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and Mason hopes it can help continue to connect and serve the congregation and the community. Mason plans to continue making the church a welcome place for everyone. “No matter who you are or where you are on your life journey you’re welcome here,” Mason said. “So from a rainbow flag outside of the church to installing handicapped bathrooms, those are two changes in the last three years making this place accessible and welcome to all.” She hopes people will see this place as a safe place where they are loved regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey or in life. “Just a place of love and acceptance,” she said. “A place to meet the needs of the community through service and offerings, a soft place for people to land when the day has been harsh. A place they know they are prayed for.” For more information about the classes or the church, contact pastor@ austincongoucc.org, or visit www.austincongoucc.org. P
Shari Mason
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Above: Pastor Shari Mason takes part in the drum circle that meets at First Congregational United Church of Christ. Left: Various percussion instruments are available to members of the drum circle that meets.
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• Community or Supported Employment • School to Work Transition • Center-Based Employment • Mental Health Service • Specialized Transportation Serving the people of Mower County in areas of Employment and Contracted Services by building business partnerships for over 50 years.
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Jarod Feifarek works on the leveling platform of a 3D printer while in the foreground is last year’s robot Furious George.
Austin High School robotics team rolling into growth By Jenae Hackensmith, Photos Eric Johnson The Austin High School FIRST robotics team Furious George is growing stronger each season and shows no signs of slowing down. The AHS robotics team has more than 30 students in its eighth season, about six times more than when coach Ryan Stanley first started. “When we first made the team I want to say there was probably five that went to competition and maybe two main people who built the robot, so it’s grown a lot in the eight years we’ve been here,” Stanley said. The growth has been a sign of strong support in the community as well as increasing student interest. Stanley said much of it may have to do with the team going to state, and the team showing off its robot in elementary classrooms and at pep fests and open houses. “Those are the types of things that drive students in, they want to be involved with something like that,” he said. Although there are a higher percentage of male students, the growth has been in both genders and Stanley explained female student interest has risen as well. There are even two of five leadership roles on the team filled by girls. Austin Daily Herald
Competition and mentorship
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The team has qualified for state once, but members have seen many other awards. “Four of the last five years we have made it into the finals at regional competitions,” Stanley said. “We have grown in fundraising so that we were able to go to two competitions, two regional competitions last year, one in Duluth and one in Minneapolis.” Last year, the team ranked 12th out of 192 teams going into the state competition. Furious George won three awards that year,
in industrial design, engineering and another engineering award which came with $500. The team works with mentors, including engineers from Hormel, and Stanley said as more mentors have come on board, the robotics have become more professionally built. “That cooperation we have with them, the engineers at Hormel, is invaluable,” he said. “There’s such and educational element to seeing them and to have that connection with them with industry. FIRST really thrives on that, they really want us to do that, and they encourage that because working side by side with those engineers, these kids are getting a far better education than just sitting in the classroom.” Mentorship isn’t only for engineers, though, as there are several volunteers on the
team who help in other ways. “We’ve added several mentors this year, and this is probably the first year that we’ll have alumni mentors,” Franny Madison, a team volunteer and mentor, said. Madison works as a para-professional at Austin Public Schools during the day, and other mentors on the team include a tech person with Austin Public Schools, AHS alumni and more. “I think that makes our team unique, and we really cover a lot of the basis from all walks of life,” Madison said. Stanley said the mentorships have also created a lot of networking for the students. “I’ve had students actually go out and internship, either intern under these people or they job shadow as a mentorship,” he said.
“So creating that network is just unbelievably cool when you’re still in high school.”
Many aspects
Robotics teams partake in three to five competitions each season, and Stanley said he feels the team has a strong chance to make it to state competition after making it last year. “And what’s really exciting is a lot of them will be here for four years,” Stanley said of the students. Madison agreed. “[I] always think we have a good chance, we’re a well-seasoned team with good mentors, good community sponsorship, and the group of kids we have this year, there are some kids on our team right now that are really impressive,” she said.
Members of the Austin High School robotics team Levi Dahl, from left, Sebastian Cole, Grady Shupe and Gabriel Manzano work through early concepts for this year’s robot.
LEFT: Skylar Guzman, right, and RJ Anderson work on a scoring sheet.
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Robotics isn’t only for high school students, as Austin has five VEX robotics teams at I.J. Holton Intermediate School and Ellis Middle School, along with Lego League at the elementary schools. All five VEX teams made it to the state competition this year. The AHS FIRST robotics team — which differs from VEX in rules and regulations — would find out if they made it to the state com-
ABOVE: Objectives are listed on a chalkboard for the Austin High School robotics club for the season.
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A growing sport
petition later in the season. Madison hopes to see a FIRST Tech Challenge club or mentorship, where high school students would help mentor middle school students. “That ability to have those younger kids here working with high school kids on an FTC team, going to a challenge, doing those things and then making the transition to FIRST Robotics Challenge is just going to build the team and make it stronger,” she said. “So definitely would like to see that in the next few years.” Madison said the competition gives students who aren’t in sports and are more engineeringly minded a chance to compete in something that feels like a sporting event. “The benefit is that they learn so much and they get to see the real-life principles play out,” she explained. “That we have to cooperate with the guy next to us to make this next thing work.” “Every cog in the wheel is no more important than the next one,” she added. Stanley describes robotics as a well-kept secret, as many people don’t know much about the different programs, yet more and more students, parents, mentors and volunteers are joining each year. “If you were to come to the competition you would see it,” he said. “And I always tell people that, it’s the best kept secret, and I’m not the only one who says that. The founder of FIRST robotics says it’s the bestkept secret in the United States. And if you come to an event there’s a very good possibility that you would find a way to volunteer with a team close to you.” P
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Stanley hopes to see the program continue to grow over the years and has big expectations. “I see it growing, I see 50 people on the team in five years, I see us going to world championships,” he said. But making it to the big competitions aren’t the only thing the robotics team is about. Stanley explained the students learn a lot through the program, including more about design, how to work as a team, how to communicate both verbally and pictorially or through drawing, and how to communicate through design. With new competitions, goals and obstacles each year, the team has to build a new robot each year. Not every team member has the same job, though, and some students will never even touch the robot. “There’s different aspects to this, I have people on this team and there will be people on this team that never touch a part on the robot,” Stanley said. “And they’re going to be some of the most valuable people on the team when it comes to scouting other teams or communicating with other teams or marketing our name, that type of thing, so it’s all aspects of things.”
Austin Public Schools is gradually increasing its use of technology in the classroom
By Jenae Hackensmith | Photos by Eric Johnson The students at Austin Public Schools District are reaping the benefits of a school system that continually updates its technology inside and outside of the classroom. “I think the technology goes beyond just the technology, and I think that’s the important thing to keep in mind,” Superintendent David Krenz said. “It’s about the instruction, it’s about engaging students, it’s about engaging parents, it’s about engaging the world. And we know that in today’s society, our kids and our parents are going to be using technology.” Each school has worked individually and the district has worked as a whole on separate projects to advance technology specific to student needs. Here are some of the ways the district and its schools worked to keep things updated:
The District
Director of Information Technology Burke Egner explained the district has done several big things recently, including upgrading the district infrastructure to have 10
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Freshman Jaquelin Juarez is just one of Austin’s freshman making use of laptops provided by the school.
“I think the technology goes beyond just the technology, and I think that’s an important thing to keep in mind.” — David Krenz Austin Public Schools superintendent gigabytes of Internet network speed this summer, which means equipment was put in to allow the district to reach 10 gigabytes of speed both coming in and going out. Although he explained they currently use about 1 gigabyte, this system was planned with projections that usage will rise in the future. “We can continue to grow with it,” he said. The district has also implemented Office 365, an online program that has many options for students and staff.
“Every student has access to Office 365, and students in grades fifth through 12th are now given a district-issued email account,” Egner said. “This is something that will support them as they move and go forward.” The system can help students register for college, get information to teachers and more. The program has also put much student work and schoolwork on the cloud, so students can access what they need anywhere with Internet. Students also received 10 licenses to put the program on 10 of their devices. “So they can continue to be productive both in the school and at home,” Egner said. Another big move for the district was adding one-toone for ninth-graders, meaning each freshman received a laptop on Jan. 22. Administration did a pilot program at the start of the 2015-16 school year to see what type of device would work best for students. The students will keep the devices through senior year, and once the ninth-grade students are seniors every student will have a school-issued laptop or device at Austin High School.
“We did Project Lead The The school is currently on Way, which does a lot with a Bring Your Own Device technology as far as a oneprogram, where students to-one environment,” Techcan bring a laptop, tablet, phone or other device they nology Integration Coach can work from. Blake Henely said. “Which “Whether you have a led us to buying an iPad for student issued laptop or not each teacher, with the intenyou can bring your own detion that in the classroom vice to the school and access the kids are creating differthe same information other ent end products through students can,” Egner said. different apps in math, The one-to-one initiative, science, reading, whatever part of the classroom it with one laptop per student, started in 2013 at I.J. Holton might be.” Intermediate School and Henely explained the curhas worked its way up since riculum gets students thinkthen. ing and solving problems in The district has done madifferent ways, and there’s no right or wrong way to get ny other things, including to an answer because everyupgrading many teacher devices at several schools one solves things differently. along with working to make “As long as you get to the the district website more usend goal or complete the challenge, there’s not set dier-friendly for all devices. Krenz said the new tools rection for teachers of what are to help engage all stuto tell the kids to do, the kids dents and help them want figure it out for themselves,” to learn. he said. “Instructionally, we know Devin Klapperick, part of a student-led tech support group at Austin High School, puts ends on CAT5 cable. that the types of students Sumner that we’re getting are more Elementary diverse,” he said. “And I’m School not just talking about color or poverty, I’m talking about their learning styles. And if we are to Sumner has taken time to focus on staff recently by changing out technology to make inreally and truly reach each individual student, we have to have those tools. Technology gives struction easier. us the power to be able to do that, to look at individualizing instruction to each student.” Sumner Technology Integration Coach Tina Henely explained some staff have gone from While the district has been busy, each school site has also been using technology to endesktop computers to laptops with the idea that they can teach wirelessly. Teachers in third hance student learning. and fourth grade have laptops, while teachers in first and second grade have iPads. “We have been diving into a lot of professional development, just with how to use those Austin High School devices to more enhance technology versus using them to supplement,” she said. “So we’re AHS Technology Integrationist Coach Amy Thuesen said the school has done taken sevtrying to be very purposeful with the devices that we’re using.” eral steps to upgrade tech. Along with the pilot study for laptops and giving ninth-graders Sumner also has a big focus on preparing students for I.J. Holton and its emphasis on techlaptops, it’s worked on staff development in technology, completed an augmented reality nology. Henely said tech is good to have in students’ hands because it’s more meaningful and assignment with 10th-graders and implemented a student tech-support group. they learn to face more of a real-world environment. Thuesen explained the first focus is on instruction — what do educators want to happen “I think when they’re better prepared to go to I.J. Holton, I think they’ll be better learners instructionally, and how can they improve or enhance that with technology? But that’s not and not so focused on complexity that technology could have,” she said. the only focus. Sumner has also focused on third- and fourth-grade learning suites, which are rooms with “Also, how can we use technology tools to make that instruction more effective, more more technology devices including 20 laptops for each grade. These allow for more student streamlined, more engaging, offer more feedback opportunities for students?” she said. engagement and collaboration with larger group projects. The room also has more teachers The student tech-support group is an elective students can choose to take. Students learn on hand to better serve students’ needs. from staff who work closely with technology at the school, fixing and troubleshooting. The students have even been able to shadow people in professional careers that focus on technol- Banfield Elementary School ogy, such as employees at Hormel Foods Corp. who work to stop hackers. Banfield has also focused on instructional programming for students to learn to better use The augmented reality activity asked 10th-grade students in language arts to create a technology. Banfield Technology Integration Coach Stephanie Fehn explained teachers are at book-talk and publish it, so with the correct app their classmates could scan the book cover a basic level of using technology to increase student achievement, using different programs and hear the book talk. to fill many holes to ensure students don’t fall behind. “We have those books in our library and it’s kind of a fun way for kids to publish their work Students use laptops in some of the classrooms and teachers use them to integrate both and get their work out there,” Thuesen said. social studies and sciences. She explained it’s important for students to understand their work is beyond simply themBanfield’s staff is also focusing on examining both staff and student needs to develop plans selves and their school building, but they can have words and ideas to offer people outside of for future tech developments. school. “If we don’t know how to use or care for our technology, we can’t use it very well,” Fehn said simply.
I.J. Holton was built in 2013 as a STEAM, or science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics school. This was the first school in the district with one-to-one with students and laptops. Integration Coach Eric Harder said he looks at technology integration in two ways: “One is teaching teachers and students how to use the tools,” he said. “And then teaching and working with students on how to integrate the technology into their learning.” Administration has started working with the tools, and Harder said they have begun to work more with the instructional portion such as teaching students email, how to organize their laptop, how to hand in assignments electronically instead of on physical papers and more. “I think more and more we see the importance of [students] being able to manipulate their world electronically and being able to be involved in their world electronically,” Harder said. “And that’s what’s really been something that the kids are needing.” I.J. Holton was also equipped with 3D printers, which different programs use for design and modeling, automation and robotics, and more.
Neveln Elementary School
Neveln has launched itself into technology in several ways, one of which is the new Launch Pad. The Launch Pad comes with a new curriculum and space at Neveln to help prepare students for I.J. Holton Intermediate School and the future. Launch is the elementary curriculum for Project Lead the Way (PLTW), which is a program that supplies training and curriculum for teachers to implement STEM. The Launch Pad room was finished in September of 2015. But the curriculum led to more technology throughout the building as well.
While Southgate has also been working to teach students to use technology, students have also been knee-deep in learning to present information with technology. Southgate Technology Integration Coach Paul White explained students have been using PowerPoint presentations and other ways to present, and have been exploring ways to create. Students have created a movie production, including writing the script, filming, editing, finding a studio and choosing a producer. “It’s a great learning experience, we’re going to create videos of how to act in the school,” he said. He said despite other struggles the students might have in school, now they have the chance to be in charge. “It’s so much with technology, ‘You can go online, you can click this link, you can play this game,’” he said. “But I think the important thing is to get the kids making things with technology, creating things.” White said the creating starts even as young as first grade, though it’s a slow, steady step. He joked it’s not easy when the students can’t even reach their fingers to hit “control, alt., delete,” but getting started early is key. “I think the big thing with kids is: The more they create, the more they’re engaging what they’re learning and the deeper they go into the topics of their learning,” he said.
Woodson Kindergarten Center
Though many wouldn’t think technology could start as young as kindergarten, Woodson hasn’t missed out on the technology action. Woodson Integration Coach Ryan Mayers noted there are six iPads per classroom for teacher and student use. There are also apps and games to help reinforce concepts taught in the classroom, and there are more ways to help inform parents and families of what the student is doing in class. “The big push that we’ve had recently is actually more with outreach to parents,” Mayers said. “Doing video, newsletters and creating a blog helping share information about what’s going on in the school, ideas for helping the students at home, that sort of thing.” Over winter break, administration did a series of videos showing how to do different activities using every day items at home to help students reason through problems and do logic. Mayers said the outreach has been well received and parents seem to enjoy seeing videos that feature their children doing things at school, or videos providing ideas for at home. “It’s not just reading something off the page that’s static and just sitting there,” he said. “It’s being able to visually see and [find ways] to present it to them.” P
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Ellis has focused on sharing and collaborating more, according to Ellis Technology Integration Coach Derik Gustafson. “One thing that we’re starting to work on at Ellis is sharing and collaborating online more often between teachers and students, and students and students,” he said. “So we’re operating right now in a cloud-based environment.” Gustafson explained administration is training both students and themselves on how to do more collaboration in an online environment, similar to how they would train for a classroom setting. Ellis moved to one-to-one with students and laptops last year, and the school implemented flexible learning areas where students can physically collaborate, using computers and televisions for monitors and more. Educators have also looked at how they can use those spaces to improve instruction. “Anytime we are able to improve our instruction and collaborate more it’s going to be better for student learning,” Gustafson said.
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Ellis Middle School
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An aerial photo, taken by Mitchell Gerber from a drone, shows off the work area of the new expansion to the Grand Meadow School. Photo provided By Jenae Hackensmith
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rand Meadow Principal Paul Besel walked over a patch of dirt and stepped over concrete bricks and wall markers as he pointed out rooms that will be in the school's new expansion "We are now approaching an exit," he said. "This will be a hallway right here, and this is a locker room, hallway, locker room, and then this will connect into the old facility right there.” “Now you have to kind of use your [imagination] as you’re not as ingrained in the blueprints as we are,” he added, navigating a construction site which officials anticipate to be finished this November. Grand Meadow Public Schools is expanding to bring a new physical education complex, which will include a new gymnasium and four new classrooms. Area voters passed a $3 million bond referendum for the 37,000-square-foot project in November 2014, and the $6.4 million project started in August 2015 with the hopes it will open in time for the 2016-17 school year. After looking at the demographics of the community and the projections of growth over the next 10 to 20 years, administrators realized there would not be enough space to accommodate students. The bond for the new facility is for seven years, and administrators may need to look at building on again in the future if enrollment continues to rise. Besel explained there are many families who live in Grand Meadow but work in neighboring towns, like Austin and Rochester, which increases enrollment. The addition to the school will be more traditional than the school’s unique dome buildings.
“Grand Meadow’s enrollment increase was occurring naturally,” Besel said. “When we did our demographic study three years ago to determine what our needs were, our enrollment was already going up, the birthrate was already going up, so we knew that our numbers were going to go up then. We are hypothesizing that we are going to increase our population in our community because of Rochester, and not only Rochester but Austin’s growth and their job creation, so I really feel that it’s going to have an effect on us, but the numbers aren’t solid enough for us to say, ‘Yep, that’s going to make a difference,’ but we anticipate that’s going to be helping us.” Although he didn’t know who would be moved into the new classrooms yet, Besel was excited to have more space for classes. The four classrooms will help school officials shift space around to make room for additional elementary classes, as Grand Meadow’s elementary student population is growing faster than other student segments.
“The nice thing is it’s all new construction, so we’ll start the year out, we’ll have to be a little scrunched up with some classes and different things like that, but once we’re ready to move in everything will be ready,” Besel said. The project was made possible by a $3 million donation to the district early in 2014 after voters turned down a $13.7 million referendum to build a larger school addition and physical education complex. Though the district is in need of more classrooms, the new complex was the biggest priority as the district could free up space for more extracurriculars. The extra four classrooms were made possible through fundraising efforts by school organizers, raising more than $400,000. “One of the main reasons we’re adding this is that Grand Meadow has a strong emphasis on physical education,” Besel said. “All students get phy-ed from kindergarten through 10th grade daily. There’s one gym and with the increase in class sizes, we just don’t have the space.”
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Construction workers erect supports for the base of the Grand Meadow School’s expansion as crews begin early prep work on a wall that will connect to the domes. Photo by Eric Johnson
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but the rest of the work was done by local farmers. “They brought in their grain trucks and all that kind of stuff, they hauled the stuff out — the black dirt — and they got all the grade five gravel back on it,” Besel explained. “They did it all themselves.” The district paid for the materials, but the labor and use of trucks was volunteered, and the lot was done in a week. “Our cost to build that parking lot to where it is right now, and it’s just gravel, was a little over $13,000,” Besel said. “It probably would have been closer to $100,000.” Though the complex is the first of three phases — district officials had initially proposed a middle school/high school addition and an elementary school addition — district officials hope the complex project will accommodate Grand Meadow’s growing population. “I’m confident that this will get us five to 10 years down the road so that we can work through this process,” Besel said. P
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learning environment — things like less expensive floor tile or other ways to cut costs so no more fundraising is needed. “We’re very well supported by the people in the community, and our farming community is extremely supportive of our school,” Besel said. “And you can tell that by the fact that we’re one of the few districts in the area that is expanding.” “We feel really confident that we’re going to be really close to or on budget by the time we get through this whole process,” he added. Besel wasn’t exaggerating about a giving, supportive community, which showed through in another facet of the project. The new gymnasium and classrooms took away many parking spaces, which the district replaced by extending another parking lot to create about 180 more spots through the help of local farmers. The district hired Bustad Excavating Co. to excavate,
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Construction during the first half of the project has gone well, though winter construction always poses obstacles. “For a winter construction, they feel they’re on schedule, they’ve had a couple of delays but they worked around it,” Besel said. The crew was delayed a few days by extreme cold when the weather dropped below zero, but Site Superintendent Gary Ryan said there haven’t been any other delays. “It’s cold weather building, so the weather varies from day to day,” he said. “So some days we’re a little ahead and some days we’re a little behind.” “Winter building poses a lot of challenges, but everybody out here has done this before so they’re used to it, we know what to do,” he added. The actual costs came in around $7.297 million, but Besel said administrators are looking at cutting costs anywhere they can without taking away from the safety or
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A combine makes its way up the rows in the field of Dan Gehling last fall. Satellite technology has become integral in modern farming.
essons from the soil
CHS specialist helps farmers maximize potential
By Jason Schoonover, Photos by Eric Johnson
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Michael and Dan Gehling held up maps colored with reds, greens and yellows last fall in Grand Meadow’s CHS Inc. office in Grand Meadow. “It all starts with this,” Dan said pointing to the myriads of colors. What might look a bit like a weather map to some is far more intricate and complex. And as the harvest bustled toward its conclusion outside, Michael was already using those soil maps and soil analyses to help farmers look ahead to future seasons. Michael is the YieldPoint specialist at CHS in Grand Meadow, helping farmers use YieldPoint Precision Ag Services. He’s a bit like a pharmacist for the soil. Michael and CHS complete soil sampling and analyze data from year-toyear to make prescriptions for chemicals and nutrients to use on the soil to maximize yields. Weak soil doesn’t necessarily equal more fertilizer. The goal is to help find the best combination of fertilizers and different tactics that end with the most money in a farmer’s pocket at the end of the day “We want to find out what rate made you the most money,” Dan said. The process starts with a soil test, which is traditionally completed in the summer. Dan then breaks it down into farm maps with geo-referenced points so a farmer can go back over a soil map and track changes. Soil tests assign values on things like organic matter in the soil, phosphorous levels, potassium levels, cation exchange capacity (CEC), and more. The soil test is typically updated every four years. That allows farmers to compare and track what happened. “You look at your yield map and you say, ‘What the heck’s going on? I’m not getting the same amount of bushels as I usually do,’” Michael said. “Well then you can look at what your soil test values have done over the last four years ago until now.” Once the soil map is complete, Michael not only comes up with a fertilizer plan and how much it will cost, but he also includes the estimated cost and yield losses from not using fertilizer through an average per acre. Michael can adjust the equations and make different recommendations based on what farmers want from their field. For example, he can write an equation for a farmer to maintain soil levels and another equation for farmers to build up their land. Dan wanted to improve the soil on the land he owns, but he just wanted to maintain it on land he rents.
CHS yield specialist manager Michael Gehling points out how graphs can indicate how to spread out yields. BELOW: Maps and charts can indicate where fertilizer can best be utilized and where the best plots of land are.
Michael Gehling
Age: 24 Current/hometown: Grand Meadow Fun fact or hobby: Enjoys attending small town festivals, including the Ridgewater Pioneer Days.
Dan Gehling describes how mapping helps make field farming more efficient.
Dan Gehling
Age: 62 Current/hometown: Grand Meadow Fun fact or hobby: Is passionate about farming and Michael says his father is great with the numbers of farming.
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much, no matter how much fertilizer is used. Using the Yield Point software, Michael can make a prescription and send it to farmers in their tractor using slingshot technology, which is similar to Wi-Fi or cell signals. Before, farmers had to load the information onto a USB flash drive, which some still do if they have older technology. “I can send that directly to the floater spraying fertilizer,” Michael said. That technology then does the heavy lifting of applying the fertilizer at the proper point in the field. Dan has gotten a unique insight into various products in recent years. Dan does a lot of test plots to gauge new or altered products with the University of Minnesota or companies. “That’s what I enjoy the most is just to see the differences and try new products,” Dan said. “That’s exciting.” Typically, he’ll plant and try various products and fertilizers in thin strips across a field. Once a farmer sees how a product works over the course of several years, then he or she can decide whether to use it on more of the field. Typically, Michael said you want three test strips to then average the results. The test plots track many years of data over varied weather, soil types, growing seasons and more to show how the crops respond through the years to help make decisions. P
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The technology to receive satellite signals are mounted on the top of combines and tractors like the ones shown here mounted over the cab.
The maps of strong green spots and weak red spots is a 160-acre plot of his father Dan’s land. “I want to make sure those areas get hit as a farmer,” Dan said. “It’ll assign a higher fertilizer rate to be applied there,” he added, pointing to one of the red areas. The whole idea is to improve yields, but that doesn’t always mean pumping fertilizer — and money — into soil that doesn’t need it or onto soil that’s most cost effective. Instead of using the same amount and type of fertilizer across the entire field, Michael and CHS’s work help the farmers only use fertilizer where it’s most needed. “Instead of flat-rating a constant rate, I’m actually maybe using less fertilizer because I’m not using as much up here,” Michael said pointing to a green area. When it comes to fertilizers, knowledge is indeed power, but it also equates to money too. While the goal is to address variability across an entire field, Dan said some sandy soils can only be improved so much. But soil types can really produce if they’re boosted. Dan said he likes to go a little above and beyond and tries to be aggressive in boosting his yields on his own land, while he said he may be a bit more conservative on rented land so he doesn’t improve yields, stop renting the land and leave money on the table. Plus, some land will only improve so
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GROWING A PROGRAM Riverland Community College has big plans as it expands its reach in the agriculture sector. Riverland announced six new ag-based programs in the fall of 2015 — precision agriculture, food science, food science technology, agricultural sciences, biotechnology and agribusiness — to unveil its Center for Agriculture and Food Science thanks in part to a $263,200 Hormel Foundation grant. “With the Hormel Foundation grant, we’ve done a lot,” Center for Agriculture and Food Science Director Dr. Uchenna Chukwu said. “We’ve done significant revisions to our program. We have expanded the programming options to our students in response to not only workforce needs but also in response to what our high school faculty are asking for.” Riverland’s newly developed ag programs joined Riverland’s established farm business management program, which school leaders call one of the college’s most popular programs. To lead the way with the amped up programs, Riverland hired Chukwu this summer as director of its Center for Agriculture and Food Science. Chukwu hopes the center will be around and meeting the needs of the community for a long time. She calls the center “academically rigorous and purposefully relevant for our entire community of stakeholders.” The program has three basic principles: innovation design thinking, hands-on experiential learning through simulation labs, and international or global perspective. The program has also expanded from a crop-focus to include animal agriculture. Chukwu said the programs have changed the way Riverland looks at agriculture classes. One of the first things organizers did was figure out the programming model for the agriculture center. “We decided to emphasize innovation and technology, or innovation and design thinking in our curriculum,” she said. The program has six certifications broken into three groups: ag technology, food technology and bio technology. Then organizers started to build programming ideas and curriculum ideas based on those three structures. Some of the ag program’s key lessons include application of technology to agriculture, food and biotechnology in order to enhance or improve food and energy production systems, as well as an emphasis in service lessons. Another lesson students will learn is how to adapt to changing times, wants and needs from people with their food, along with changing climates.
Forming a program
After Riverland formed the six ag center programs, Chukwu and her team started researching the workforce needs that would drive what the curriculum teaches. Chukwu
Riverland working to train tomorrow’s ag leaders Story by Jenae Hackensmith | Photos by Eric Johnson
Riverland instructor Willy Mekeel works with students Brody Shaw, Madison Shaw and Logan Goslee on a GIS data project at Riverland Community College. described going out to talk with farmers — even getting to ride a combine — while trying to figure out what the farming community needs in the future workforce. “They were great,” she said. “The farmers were extremely helpful in helping us to understand from a farming technology perspective what their needs were.” Farmers wanted workers in three main areas: to better understand how to utilize their ag data, to help with maintenance and repairs, and to develop smartphone apps to use their ag data. After finding this out, Chukwu got to work creating “pathways” that students can take during their college career and combining certificates to help them graduate in these fields. One challenge is that an associate’s degree must produce graduates after two years of training who are equipped and ready to get a job. “It became important to figure out what certificates should be combined in order to give our students that competitive edge in the marketplace,” Chukwu said. Certificate combinations include precision and ag busi-
ness which can help in the data field; precision ag and engineering which can help in the maintenance field; and precision ag and web and mobile development, which can help in the smartphone app and mobile programming technician field. Organizers did the same thing for the food technology program, breaking it into the research and development path; the industry and marketing path; and the plant operations path. “We wanted to make sure that every one of the types of stockholders that we serve and that we work with has an opportunity to employ some of our students,” Chukwu said. Certificate combinations include food science and innovation design thinking, which can help in the R&D environment; food science and applied engineering technology, which can help in the maintenance and repair plant equipment in food plants; and food science and business concentration/social media, which can help with food bloggers or tapping into the industry and marketing. Organizers hope the simulation lab will be operational by the end of this semester.
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Riverland instructor Willy Mekeel helps student Madison Tebay on a GIS Data project at Riverland Community College. with Riverland’s associate degrees, the programs will include opportunities for students to continue on to earn four-year degrees through a partnership with Minnesota State University, Mankato for food science technology, biotechnology and agricultural science. A similar pathway for agronomy has been established with Southwest Minnesota State University and a pathway in Agriculture Teacher Education is under development. The expanded ag program follows a path set by Riverland’s 2013 strategic plan, dubbed “The Blueprint for Excellence,” which identified agriculture as a top priority over the years ahead and identified the Austin campus as the anchor site for the programs that will serve students across the region.
Before and after Riverland
Organizers didn’t want to simply create a program at the college level though. They wanted to make sure it didn’t overlap with what students were already learning in high school. Last December, organizers went to area high schools to find out what they were teaching students, and where there was overlap between high school curriculum and college curriculum. “Of course we are in Austin, Albert Lea, Owatonna, but that’s not where we stopped,” Chukwu said. “We went to
Technology has advanced to the forefront in agriculture and is being taught at Riverland Community College. a number of different places and sat down and took a look at the curriculum to understand what they’re teaching and also how to align the teaching from one level to the next.” Organizers received $25,000 through a grant through the Office of Higher Education to develop advanced courses to be taught in high school through concurrent enrollment options. Four schools will receive the classes initially, including Austin, Albert Lea, Owatonna and Alden Conger, but Chukwu said the program will expand to other area high schools. Chukwu said the programs also aim to “emphasize global, international, emphasize innovation and design thinking, and emphasize hands on experiential learning through our simulation labs.” The programs don’t have to end with Riverland. Along
New markets
Another program organizers hope to develop is the concept of high tech farmers and ag bio entrepreneurship, and help identify and create new markets for products in southeast Minnesota. Chukwu explained profitability in farming is a problem many people don’t understand. Though Riverland is able to deliver programing and training to promote productivity, Chukwu said there still needs to be markets. “You need people to buy your stuff so that you remain profitable and buy it at a price point that gives you a certain profitability margin,” Chukwu said. Chukwu said many people originally from other countries currently can’t get some of the foods they enjoyed back home, and organizers of the program hope to look into international markets or export markets. “To address the profitability and access to markets that perhaps our farmers are not thinking about,” she said. P
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Riverland’s ag program has also developed a partnership with the National Science Foundation, which allows students to do applied research and teaches them to be innovators and researchers. Organizers applied for a grant in October 2015 for the partnership. The program officially launched in the 2016 spring semester, with one class in precision ag and about eight students. Chukwu said a drone program, for example, is not only a resource for students but also for stakeholders, where they can access that service and have assistance on additional work done on a farm or property. “Our first year has been challenging but that’s why we’re working so diligently with the high schools and with the community, to tell them that we’re here, and to tell them that we’re going to remain here,” she said. “We want to be around for a long time.”
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The biotechnology program is still being worked out. Chukwu said there has been a lot of time spent finding out what the community needs.
School, Sports, Family
Aaron Hungerholt wears many hats as principal, coach and father in LeRoy By Rocky Hulne, Photos by Eric Johnson
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o say Aaron Hungerholt has a big impact on the students of LeRoy-Ostrander Public Schools would be a pretty big understatement. Aaron not only serves as high school principal, he coaches two varsity sports and has five children in the district. Although those duties take up a lot of his time, Aaron wouldn’t have it any other way, especially when it allows him to coach his triplets — Haley, Trey and Trent, who are freshmen at LO. Aaron coaches Trey and Trent in football, and he coaches Haley in basketball. “Basically my family revolves around school and sports,” Aaron said. “That’s kind of the life we live. Our kids kind of
drive what we’re doing. My wife holds a lot of the things together. She’s always doing different things. “ Sports and school take up much of the Hungerholt family’s time, but Aaron enjoys having a presence in different aspects at LO. “I don’t see it as a difficult thing to balance,” Aaron said. “My job of being a principal is something I take very seriously and do during the day. I’m involved so much in the school anyway in that aspect, and having kids involved in sports, I’m always going to their games and things anyways.” Aaron took on both varsity coaching jobs because it can be difficult to find coaches in smaller towns and he probably would’ve been at a lot of the games anyway to watch his kids play.
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Continued from Page 84 The only trouble the Hungerholt family runs into is that Aaron isn’t able to watch his sons play basketball often because he’s coaching his daughter, so his wife, Amy, takes the couple’s other two children — Camden, a third-grader, and Reid, a first-grader — to Trent and Trey’s games when Aaron is coaching Haley. Haley, Trent and Trey don’t feel any extra pressure from their peers as the coach’s and principal’s children, but they do feel that they aren’t able to get away with as much as school as other students. Haley said sometimes basketball comes home with her and Aaron after games or practices, it can be a little overwhelming going to school with her entire family, as her mom is also a teacher at LO. “Our teachers talk to him and if you don’t do your work, he’s going to find out,” she said. Trey said he enjoys playing football for his dad and he doesn’t mind having him around. “It’s kind of cool having him as a coach and principal. We keep it separate from home,” Trey said. Aaron realizes it can be tough on his kids to have a parent who is in the building all day and with them in the gym after school. “I think the kids handle those things well,” Aaron said. “They don’t get treated any differently, but I think the expectations are higher for my kids because they’re the coach’s or principal’s kids and that may be unfair, but that’s just the way life is.” Aaron described LO as a great place to be a principal as there are very little discipline problems in the school. He’s working on building up the band, choir and arts programs, and he wants LO students to be well rounded individuals. “I really think I make better relationships and build better rapport with the kids when I coach and they see a different side of me,” Aaron said. “They see me in different roles and it gets a little easier for me to be a principal when they see me as a coach.” P
Aaron Hungerholt
Age: 43 Current town: LeRoy Hometown: Rushford Fun fact: Hungerholt and his wife, Amy, met in Las Vegas while teaching. They have five children: Triplets Haley, Trey and Trent, who are freshmen, Camden, a third-grader, and Reid, a first-grader.
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Born to Run
Southland’s Torkelson has taken running to heart By Rocky Hulne Southland junior Peter Torkelson may have been born to run. In 2015, Torkelson enjoyed a stretch of running that has pushed his confidence to new levels. He ran in Grandma’s Marathon in June for the fun of it and finished within three minutes of qualifying for the Boston Marathon, he traveled to California to compete in a Spartan Race in September, then he ran in the Class A state cross country meet for the first time in November. Torkelson finished 514th out of 6,077 runners at the Grandma’s Marathon and took 35th at the Minnesota Class A State Cross Country Meet. All three races presented their own challenges for Torkelson, but the Spartan Race pushed him beyond his own limits and even slowed him down in a bit in his high school cross country season. “We ran up the side of a mountain and before that all I knew was running up Skinner’s hill Age: 17 for hill training,” TorkelCurrent town: Adams son said. “I couldn’t Hometown: Austin breathe, my calves Fun fact or hobby: Torkelson is involved were hurting and I was in acting, he is teaching himself how to basically crawling up the side of the hill while play guitar and he started his own window running. I looked like I washing business called Wallaroo Windows was an injured bird. The last summer. elevation was insane, but once you got to the top it was really cool.” Torkelson took second in his age group at the Spartan Race and finished 39th overall out of 4,311 runners. Torkelson’s competitive running career began after being grounded when he was in middle school. While being grounded, Torkelson attended the Darren Dash in Austin to watch his older sister run and his mom told him he could get away from her for a while if he ran in the race. Though he was wearing basketball shoes and sweat pants, Torkelson decided to run. He was hooked. The next day, he ran another race in Rochester. Now Torkelson finds himself running, even when he doesn’t necessarily want to. “I’ve gone a few weeks without running, but I always come back to it. It’s just my thing now, I guess. It’s hard to not do it now,” Torkelson said. “I’d love to get to state in track, I’d like to get back to state in cross country and to get better and I’d love to run at the college level.”
Peter Torkelson
Peter Torkelson competing in the 2015 Reebok Spartan Race World Championship, Lake Tahoe, California. Photo provided
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Torkelson also stays busy by mountain biking, road biking, competing in archery and playing basketball, but running is where he gets the most competitive. His runs are far from easy, but Torkelson loves the feeling he gets when he finishes a strong performance. “It’s kind of like a euphoric feeling when you get done with it,” he said. “It’s tough and I know it’s tough, because you have to try harder every time to get better. You’re not in a stable place where you don’t feel pain anymore, you’ve got to keep pushing yourself.” A couple of years ago Torkelson felt fine running in public races, but he would psyche himself out in high school meets when he saw some of the faster runners. Now he’s been able to shift his focus before those races. “I had to change my attitude and now I think that maybe I’m the guy that other people are afraid to race against,” Torkelson said. P
“It’s tough and I know it’s tough, because you have to try harder every time to get better.”
Peter Torkelson competing for Grand Meadow, LeRoyOstrander, Southland at the 2015 Minnesota Class A State Cross Country Meet at St. Olaf College in Northfield. Photo provided
— Peter Torkelson
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Peter Torkelson heads out on a run from Southland High School in Adams. Photo by Eric Johnson
Social Interaction
Lee Aase carries on Mayo Clinic’s tradition of outreach through social media By Jordan Gerard | Photos by Eric Johnson
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Mayo Clinic had a social media presence before it was cool. In a sense, Mayo Clinic’s “social media” has a rich history that predates the Internet. The clinic’s two founders, Dr. William and Dr. Charles Mayo, traveled the world teaching and learning medical solutions. William would travel first, while Charles would stay home and take care of the practice and then they switched in the fall season. Now in 2016, Mayo Clinic's Social Media Director Lee Aase has carried and still is carrying the torch forward into an era of online social platforms. “Social media is just turning that same word of mouth online,” Aase said. “We’ve had scores of countless examples of patients who’ve found information through our social media sites that make them say, ‘Wow maybe I should go to Mayo Clinic or maybe I should get checked out there.’ They get some answers there that end up helping them get the surgery or treatment or diagnosis they need.” Mayo Clinic welcomes patients from every U.S. state and 150 countries every year. Aase said the main reason for that is word-of-mouth. Aase said William traveled to 25 countries during his lifetime, including Australia, Russia, England, Sweden, Botswana and countries in South America. “They had this great connection to outside Mayo Clinic and that’s part of it, through them making these connections physically, face to face, and through the connections our patients have made with their family and friends, that old fashioned social networking was happening,” Aase said.
Lee Aase has been at the forefront of Mayo Clinic Health System’s use of social media.
Lee Aase explains the role of social media in getting Mayo Clinic Health Systems out into the world.
to travel to Australia. Nobody in my family tree has gone to Australia.
“They like to use Mayo Clinic as an example because then they can go to their leaders and say, ‘Hey you know it can’t be that crazy if Mayo Clinic is doing it,’” Aase said. He said the rewarding part of his job is knowing they are putting the knowledge out there for people who are interested, and then “they’re able to take it and make their lives better.” Aase said he loves his job, which he in a way got to invent because of new social media platforms. “We saw an opportunity to connect more directly with patients and prospective patients,” Aase said. “It’s neat that we can tell our own stories.” P
Mayo Clinic’s Social Media Director Lee Aase writes his own blog where talks about social media and using it in a business-related matter. He calls it SMUG, or Social Media University Global. SMUG’s goal is to help people who are midcareer, who maybe do not understand the social media tools, or may not think that they are important or are just plain confused by them. “Part of what we’re trying to do is understand that you can really do this and you can accomplish some interesting things by using these tools,” Aase said. “It’s a little bit of tongue and cheek fun where I talk about what I’m learning, [and] what I’ve learned about social media and how to apply it.” Lee’s personal blog and his courses in social media, http://social-media-university-global.org
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Age: 52 Home town: Austin Fun fact or hobby: I’m the first person of my ancestors
SMUG lessons to survive the World Wide Web
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Lee Aase
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Aase, an Austin resident, started his job in 2000 at the Rochester campus and mainly worked with press releases and interviews with journalists as the main source of information and quickest way to get news out. That all changed with the creation of Facebook, Twitter, Periscope and other social media venues. “When I heard about some of these online tools like YouTube and Facebook, I said wow, this a way we can do this same kind of thing, just electronically and make it a lot easier for people who want to share information,” Aase said. Aase and his team’s job is to look at the plethora of different sites and ask, “Does it make sense for us to have a Mayo Clinic presence there? Would people be interested in connecting with us on this platform?” as Aase said. They also help physicians and other staff interested in using social media connect with patients and prospective patients and share knowledge with their colleagues around the world. “We provide resources for them and training so they can do it in a safe and effective way,” Aase said. Aase said the four basic food groups of social media are Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs. Aase’s team is also responsible for maintaining those pages so they are go-to resources for health questions and concerns. In addition to the basic social media platforms, Mayo Clinic also has a Pinterest page, Instagram account and Periscope account. Periscope is a platform that allows users to stream live video. “We did a conference in Australia for our social media group last September [using Periscope],” Aase said. “It’s kind of neat we’re able to live stream some of the talks to the world.” They will also hold Twitter chats, where people can ask questions of Mayo doctors at scheduled times. All people need to do is tweet their question using one of Mayo’s various hashtags, so it’s seen by the doctors online. Aase said sometimes people will mention Mayo Clinic in a tweet about their experience or write on the Facebook wall. People will also like, comment and share Mayo’s posts to their friends. In addition to connecting with patients, they also have member organizations with other hospitals and healthcare providers from around the nation and world that are interested in using social media.
A trek to stop trafficking Nesvold continues using fitness to raise funds for good causes By Rocky Hulne When Kelly Nesvold of Austin began running to stay in shape with a group of his fellow Cornerstone Church members, he never imagined it would lead him into various charitable causes. But now, Nesvold is planning on pushing himself to his physical limit to raise funds for a great cause — for a second time. In August 2016, Nesvold plans to complete a 300 mile triathlon, where he will swim five miles across Pokegama Lake in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, then he will bike 240 miles towards the Twin Cities before he finishes with a 55 mile run that ends in St. Paul. He’s dubbed the project 300M4FREEDOM. Nesvold isn’t making this trek because he’s crazy. He’s doing it to raise money to fight human trafficking with the goal of raising $50,000 to go to Mission 21 and Out of Ashes. “I have no desire to do this for anything else,” Nesvold said. “I would not go out and do a 300-mile triathlon unless there was going to be some tremendous benefit for others. Just attempting to do half of it is proving to be a challenge. I would not want to do the whole thing just for fun.” Nesvold originally began running to get back in shape with a few friends from Cornerstone and his first physical test for charity came in 2014, when Nesvold ran 100 miles from St. Paul to Austin to buy more than 100,000 meals to fight hunger through 100M4HUNGER. “There’s some pretty strong Christian men in that group and I think we all feed off each other,” Nesvold said. “As a whole, we all helped each other
Kelly Nesvold
Age: 39 Current town: Austin Hometown: Grand Rapids, Minnesota Fun fact or hobby: Kelly likes to trout fish. reach our goals and become better stewards and better individuals to give.” Some of Nesvold’s old training friends were with him in the 100-mile runs and some of them will accompany him for parts of his 300-mile triathlon. Since, he used to be a competitive swimmer, Nesvold thinks the five-mile swim will be the easiest part of the triathlon. He’s mostly focused on the running and biking portion of it. Nesvold is planning on completing the triathlon in 48 hours and he will hold rallies in many towns along the way, including Brainerd, St. Cloud, Faribault and Austin. “I don’t know that there will be much time for rest or sleeping. When we’re not biking or running, we’ll probably be standing around at the events,” Nesvold said. Nesvold picked the distance of 300 miles because that’s how far his hometown of Grand Rapids is from Austin. While 300 miles seems like a huge number for a triathlon, Nesvold said he will be able to do it after he gets in his training. Nesvold is passionate about fighting human trafficking, and the more he’s learned about it, the more he wants to stop it. He was shocked when he found out that human trafficking now rivals the drug trade in the money it’s making and Nesvold was quick to point out that it’s a problem all over the world, not just in Third World countries. “We’re talking about 13 year old girls being taken and forced to do unspeakable things,” Nesvold said. “When kids run away, I think it’s important to realize that the average child when they run away from home, within 48 hours at least a third of them are already swept into some kind of trafficking life whether they know it or not. They’re treated very kindly and they’re given shelter until one day they wake up and realize ‘Oh my gosh, what’s happening now’ and they’re being forced to do things they could never imagine.” As he moves toward the triathlon, Nesvold was hoping he can get help from volunteers to set up events, so he can find time to get his body in the proper physical condition.
Austin Daily Herald
92 Progress 2016
Kelly Nesvold, left, and Eric Feuchtenberger run early one morning to a workout at Crossfit Innerdrive. Photo by Eric Johnson BELOW: Nesvold works out both swimming and biking as he prepares for his upcoming triathlon. Photos provided
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“Hopefully we can get everything in place before spring comes so I can focus mostly on training,” Nesvold said. “What I’m finding is I don’t have enough hours in the day to do all of it. The more people we can get to help with it, the better.” To donate to Nesvold’s cause, visit 300M4FREEDOM. COM, or stop by Wellness First Chiropractic in Austin. Nesvold is selling T-shirts and bracelets and all donations are tax deductible. There will also be a fundraiser concert in Austin in May at the Holiday Inn that will include a silent auction. P
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1891
Vision 2020 Bike/Walk Chairman Steve Kime leads a group of cyclists down Fourth Avenue Northeast on their way to tour Austin’s bike trails as part of a kickoff for city’s Bike Friendly efforts last year. Herald file photo
Steve Kime is leading the charge for Austin’s bicycling efforts
By Rocky Hulne
Austin Daily Herald
96 Progress 2016
Steve Kime, 64, has loved bicycling ever since his youth, and he loves to hit the trails for casual rides, where he can enjoy a good view of nature or a good conversation with a friend. “I prefer bicycling downhill with the wind at my back,” Kime said. But Kime hasn’t been content just to ride in recent years. Kime has been a driving force, pedaling Austin ahead to add a mountain biking trail, increase bike safety, become a Bike Friendly City, and offer a program for people to ride and return bikes through the Red Bike program. In short, Kime is working to put Austin on the map as a cycling community. “I’d like to see Austin as a destination for bicyclists,” Kime, the co-chair of Vision 2020’s Bike/Walk Trail Committee and a member of Prairie Visions, said. “If we could offer mountain biking, that would be a great thing for the city. That’s growing by leaps and bounds. With the mountain bike trail and the Shooting Star Trail coming to Austin, I think you’ll see it get more popular.” When Kime looks around Austin, he sees a great community for bicycling and a community with the potential to be even better. Austin has experienced a bicycling boom as of late. Austin added a Minnesota High School League team and already hosted Austin’s first bike race at a trail located on land owned by Hormel Foods Corp. west of Todd Park. Austin is already set to host another race in 2016, and Kime and others are now working toward securing that land as a public mountain bike trail. “It’s been a very positive thing and it’s a good time,” Kime said. “People are interested in biking, they want trails and it’s popular right now. The idea is to get the word out that we have a great trail system and it’s
Steve Kime
Age: 64 Current town: Austin Fun fact or hobby: Steve spends a lot of
time doing volunteer work in town.
getting even better. We’ve seen more usage recently.” Kime is proud of the 15 miles of trails that Austin offers, and this coming summer he’s excited to have those trails connect with the Shooting Star Trail, which runs from Adams to LeRoy. Besides connecting with the Shooting Star trail, there are also plans to add more bicycle trails in the southwest part of town, as many of the trails are currently on the east side of Austin. Kime has led the charge to form Red Bike, a program featuring dozens of bikes at 11 stations around town that are free for people to use and return. The program should debut this spring. Kime’s ultimate goal is to get Austin designated as a Bike Friendly City by the Bike Alliance of Minnesota (BikeMN). That process kicked off in 2015, and BikeMN officials say Austin is well on its way. But to reach the final goal, the city will have to add signage, make things safer for bicyclists and provide good trails. And safety continues to be a key, as Kime wants to make sure that cars are aware of bicyclists and he wants riders to obey the rules of the road and wear a helmet when they are riding near traffic. With all that’s gone on, Kime sees a bright future for bicycles in Austin. “We’ll have a lot going on here and it will play well into all of the things that Austin is doing,” Kime said. “We’ve done a lot of things and we have some things to work on.” P
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1908 Frank Bridges, known for his theater background and who is the namesake for Riverland Community College’s Frank W. Bridges Theatre, recently taught a class at Pacelli Catholic Schools.
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Back in class Well-known professor teaches once again By Jenae Hackensmith, Photo by Eric Johnson
Bridges said. “The class as a whole, there were nine people and individually they were blessings to me. And I enjoyed my time with them immensely and I hope they enjoyed it too.” lthough Frank Bridges retired in 1989, he The class was new this year, according to Mardecided to get back in the game in fall of 2015. reel, and is part of a growth toward focusing on the Bridges is known in town for his theater work, classic curriculums. Logic joined a class in Latin and but taking on a class at Pacelli Catholic Schools, several other classes that may have been taught at he decided to go back to a different subject. one time but are no longer in the curriculum. Bridges taught one semester of logic to a small “He has a great passion for a lot of philosoclass of about nine students during the fall semes- phers and the kids just absolutely loved that class,” she said. “They kind of hung on his every ter of 2015. “I had a gracious opportunity to delve into and word, he’s very captivating and very deep, and I think they learned a lot in logic class.” to teach what I call my ball of wax,” Bridges said. Bridges hoped he made a difference to the “Some basic notions and fundamentals I’ve enstudents through his class. He tertained and developed over said teaching and encouragthe years and probably not ing others, especially young had a good platform or good students, brings him great format to discuss them. So in Age: 89 discussing things with people enjoyment and satisfaction. at Pacelli, I felt that this would Bridges didn’t let his age stop Current town: Austin be a good place for me to do him from getting through to Hometown: St. James, that, if they were willing to go the students. Minnesota along with it. So they did.” “In my mind, I’ve been Fun fact: Bridges worked Pacelli Principal Laura Mar17 all my life, including right on the railroad part time now,” he laughed. reel was glad when Bridges for about 10 years, and Despite his age, his Bridges approached them with the also worked on the radio said his family was glad he deidea to come and teach. doing radio drama. “He wanted to give his cided to teach the class. Bridgtime back and he wanted to es’ wife of almost 60 years give his time to Pacelli,” she passed away about two years said. “And he went to Father [Jim Steffes] and ago, and at his age, along with some medical proposed a lot of different ideas of things he’d issues, it’s hard for him to get out much. love to pass on to kids, and we kind of ran with his “Having the course to teach took me away class logic.” from dwelling on some of those emotional matBridges, now 89 years old, taught in education ters with my family regarding my life,” he said. for 38 years. He taught at Riverland Community Marreel was happy to have him on board, College — at the time called Austin Community bringing his experiences and passion to the classCollege — from 1962 until he retired in 1989. room. The Riverland Theatre is named after him. During “I think he has a lot of experience that he that time, he taught courses in English, humanbrings, he has a passion for his faith, and for the ities, speech, theater and philosophy. Bridges was great writers and philosophers in our history,” she said. “I think he brings a greater understandalso the director of theater, doing three to four shows a year. Before coming to Riverland, Bridges ing of yourself to students and appreciation for taught high school English in various towns in education.” Minnesota. Though Bridges didn’t choose to help direct Bridges taught the class at Pacelli, an introthe play at Pacelli this time around, he hopes to do so in the future. duction class to logic, for about 14 weeks, where “I would delight doing something like that,” he talked a lot about prudence — making wise he said. and intelligent decisions about practical matters, He also hopes to continue teaching a class evamong other topics. He also spoke about rhetoric and Aristotle. ery so often at Pacelli, and aims to teach a “good “I feel that the class was a real blessing for me,” old fashioned speech course” one semester. P
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Frank Bridges education:
—Associate’s Degree from Worthington Junior College —Bachelor’s Degree from Morningside College with an English Major and Speech Minor in 1951 —Master’s Degree in Speech-Theater with a Minor in English and Philosophy from the University of Minnesota in 1961 —Additional year’s work at various Minnesota state universities and the University of Minnesota
Since retirement:
—Bridges has been the principal leader on an annual London, England studytour for Riverland —He has taught Theater History and Dramatic Theory and Criticism on an interim/adjunct basis at Concordia College for a small time —He has audited several courses in philosophy and theology at Concordia College, the University of St. Thomas, and the College of St. Catherine
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Progress 2016
Frank Bridges
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TINY’S
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Quin Brunner Though he’s only 18 and less than a year out of high school, Quin Brunner was the interim coordinator of Vision 2020 and has also worked with the United Way of Mower County and the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. He’s also gotten into community activism, as he’s helping lead the charge to save the Austin Municipal Power Plant and develop it. Q: What led you to get involved with community happenings at a young age? A: I’ve always been engaged in the community. I began campaigning for Rep. Jeanne Poppe when I was 6 years old. I spent a lot of time door-knocking which gave me the unique opportunity to directly connect with community members and tune into their needs. Three years ago I joined the Vision 2020 Bike/Walk Trail Committee and connected with Laura Helle. Laura gave me the opportunity to be an intern with Vision 2020 during the summer of 2013, this position opened the door for me to serve as interim coordinator of Vision 2020 last fall.
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Q: What has it been like working for organizations like Vision 2020, the United Way of Mower County and the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center? A: Every day I work at the Nature Center I get to both teach and learn about things I enjoy. It has given me the opportunity to connect with members of the Austin community and it is a wonderful organization of which to be a part. On top of it all, the Nature Center is going through an exciting time planning and developing the new Interpretive Center and it is always fun to hear about what’s in store. The United Way does great work supporting impactful programs and initiatives in Mower County. I was tasked with revamping the application process for agencies receiving United Way funding and it has been rewarding to create a system to standardize and simplify such an important part of operations. Vision 2020 gave me the opportunity to connect with many great people and to work on positive
projects aimed at advancing our community. This experience taught me a lot about Austin and gave me some unique insights into how grassroots initiatives grow from an idea into tangible change. Q: What have you learned about Austin from working with these organizations? A: The Hormel Foundation has significant influence on the decisions made in this community. Q: What skills have you learned from working with these groups that will help you in the future? A: Working at Vision 2020, the United Way, and the Hormel Nature Center have all been very different experiences. Vision 2020 was a wonderful introduction to the process of developing a community. The United Way gave me a unique opportunity to both raise and distribute money which ultimately benefits incredibly valuable programs in Mower County. Working at the Nature Center was my first job and helped me develop a strong work ethic and sense of professionalism. The folks at the Nature Center, Larry Dolphin, Julie Champlain, and Maria Anderson, have shown me the importance of working in a job you love and being passionate about the things you’re engaged in.
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Austin • 507-437-8141
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Q: What are your future plans? A: I’m still figuring it out. Q: What’s your No. 1 vice or guilty pleasure food? A: Fuego Takis.
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Sheri Dankert moved to Austin in 1989 and joined what is now Mayo Clinic Health System – Albert Lea and Austin in 1995, where she worked until starting as assistant secretary-treasurer for The Hormel Foundation in December 2014. Q: What’s your favorite part of working at The Hormel Foundation? A: The Foundation works with a number of nonprofit organizations and so that’s opened up a whole new list of groups and volunteers for me to get to know. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know these organizations. Some of them I didn’t even know existed prior to working here. So I am using my training as an accountant, but I’m not behind a desk all day, I’m also out working with people on the needs in the community. Q: What are some of your key duties as the assistant secretary-treasurer? A: I’m responsible for maintaining the financial records for the Foundation and completing all the external reporting that is required. I organize the board committee meetings and record all the minutes for those various groups. I also work closely with the organizations that receive our grants and research topics for our board members if they see a need in the community that they want to consider funding. Q: Since starting in December of 2014, what have you learned about The Hormel Foundation that you didn’t know before? A: Just how many organizations the Foundation is involved with. I knew it was a fairly large number but it certainly is more than I realized.
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Q: The Foundation gives money to many efforts and nonprofits around town. Which one sticks out or means the most to you personally? A: I’m really excited about the dome. A lot of people have been leaving town to have access to a dome during the winter/ early spring months and now they can do those activities here. I’ve been in there a few times and it’s great to see the activities that are going on and people just getting out to walk in the winter that might not have done it otherwise. I think it’s a great asset, especially to a community this size. Q: What’s one thing most Austin res-
idents don’t know about The Hormel Foundation? A: The No. 1 question I’ve gotten in the last year is ‘Where are you located?’ It’s in the lower level of the Town Center, 329 N. Main St., 102L. But what I think most people don’t know is that the Foundation has two different pools of money that it gives from and each of those pools has very different rules about who can receive a grant, and the size of those pools is very different. Q: What’s it like being at the heart of an organization that invests so much money and efforts into the community? A: It’s a really satisfying organization to be a part of. When I think about what gives me joy in my work, I realize it’s helping people so this job aligns perfectly. I get to see the behind the scenes of all the giving that is done and hear stories about the differences that the Foundation makes in people’s lives. The programs are so varied and are touching so many facets of the community. Many, many people have been touched by a program that the Foundation has supported and they probably don’t even realize it. Q: After giving a record $7.8 million in annual contributions and $21.4 million total dollars in 2015, what’s next for The Hormel Foundation in 2016? A: Vision 2020 projects are hitting their stride. There are a number of big projects that take a lot of planning to get them off the ground. I expect we’ll see the Foundation being involved in helping to launch some of those projects. Also construction will wrap up on three projects and The Hormel Institute will begin using their new labs in the expansion space as well as the Live Learning Center, and people will move into Science Park Housing. Q: What’s your No. 1 vice or guilty pleasure food? A: My vice is Diet Coke. Guilty pleasure is probably Lindor chocolate, because the craving for it comes after having a meal my body considers healthy. Q: What are some of the most common family activities for you and your family? A: Sporting events. We spend a lot of time at baseball fields since Jack plays three seasons of baseball, so when we aren’t there, we are in a hockey arena which is his winter sport. P
Progress 2016
1204 West Oakland Ave. • Austin, MN 55912 1-888-433-2307 • 507-433-2307
Sheri Dankert
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The Exhaust Specialists
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THROUGH THE YEARS
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1990
Two Austin organizations with decades of history in Austin are in the early stages of potentially moving onto new homes. The Salvation Army set its goal high for its 2015 holiday campaign and red kettle drive, while the Austin YMCA is likely to be involved with plans to build a new Community Recreation Center. Here’s are some of the keys events in these group’s history:
Salvation Army 1967: A new office building was built. 1986: Salvation Army started in Austin. 1986: Old thrift store is torn down and new one is built. 2000: A flood closes down office building, but disaster team still assists the community. 2004: One of the worst floods in Austin history closes down office building, temporarily relocated to a building in industrial park. 2015: The Salvation Army kicks off its annual red kettle and seasonal drive with the high goal A photo from Nov. 29, 1967, shows off the building of the of $170,000 as it works Salvation Army. Photo provided through the early stages of plans to build or relocate its offices and food shelf to a new site. 2016: The Salvation Army celebrates 120 years in Austin.
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2000 8th Street NW, Austin 507-437-2400
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YMCA members use the original weight room in the Austin YMCA in the 1970s. Photos provided
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1948: The YMCA of Austin received a provisional charter to begin offering programs through a core group of dedicated volunteers. 1949: The YMCA of Austin became chartered. 1952: The YMCA of Austin founded and it originally operated out of Shaw Gym. Later it was moved above the Store in downtown Austin. 1963: A total of $723,000 was raised to construct the first phase of a full facility YMCA. 1965: The YMCA of Austin moved to its current location. The 34,000-squarefoot facility included a six lane pool, a gym, two shower locker rooms, a fitness center, a multipurpose room and office and administration area. 1973, 1976, 1978 and 1999: Further expansions took place at the YMCA of Austin. The facility is currently 60,000 square feet and it serves more than 7,000 people each year. 2010s: Vision 2020’s Community Recreation project begins, which would likely be a partnership with the Austin YMCA. Vision 2020 is working on securing a new site for a rec center-YMCA combo, and its preferred site is the former Austin Downtown Municipal Plant.
100 Progress 2016
The original YMCA building.
DAVE DONAHUE Ph: 507-567-2689 Cell: 507-438-3975 Brownsdale, MN
2011
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Ann M. Bode, Ph.D.
Rhoderick E. Brown, Ph.D.
Cancer Biomarkers and Drug Resistance
Membrane Biochemistry
Professor and Associate Director
Professor
Margot P. Cleary, Ph.D. Professor
Nutrition and Metabolism
Mohammad Saleem Bhat, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Molecular Chemoprevention and Therapeutics
Edward “Ted” Hinchcliffe, Ph.D. Associate Professor Cellular Dynamics
Young-In Chi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Structural Biology
Yibin Deng, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Cell Death and Cancer Genetics
“All of us at The Hormel Institute are profoundly excited for what the future holds with this new expansion, as our cancer research holds tremendous potential to accelerate discoveries related to how humans can prevent and treat cancer.”
Ningling Kang, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis
Zigang Dong, M.D., Dr. P.H. Executive Director
McKnight Presidential Professor in Cancer Prevention Hormel-Knowlton Professor
Luke H. Hoeppner, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Molecular Biology and Translational Cancer Research
Sergio Gradilone, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Cancer Cell Biology and Translational Research
Rebecca Morris, Ph.D. Professor
Stem Cells and Cancer
Shujun Liu, Ph.D. Associate Professor
Cancer Epigenetics and Experimental Therapeutics
James Robinson Assistant Professor
Cell Signaling and Tumorigenesis
Values
EDUCATION We Value
POTENTIAL
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We Value
GROWTH
Imagine the effects a Faith Filled, Academic Challenge can have on your child! Choose Success! Pacelli Catholic Schools - Preschool -12th Grade - Shamrock Zone Childcare - www.pacellischools.org 311 4th St. NW - (507)437-3278 - 511 4th Ave. NW - (507)433-8859 - Austin, MN 55912