Valley Profiles 2022

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Movers & Shakers

40 & Under

This year, we want to highlight our next generation of leaders.

The Movers and Shakers 40 and Under that represent our communities. thinking on a bigger national scale,” Hulsebus said.

“Where I put my donations for advertising means a lot to me because there is always opportunities to spend money as a business owner. I always evaluate where the money is going and who it is benefitting, and I always put that money toward local events.”

Thode, 28, who is single, lives in Wells and is in her second year working with Hulsebus, has impacted the community more by getting involved in St. Peter and giving time.

Thode serves with the Chamber of Commerce Diplomats which conducts ribbon cuttings at new businesses.

Last year she started working with the St. Peter Soccer Club in coaching goalkeepers. She played goalkeeper in college.

“They reached out to me, so I got to work with kids from the age of 5 all the way to high school with their goalkeeper skills,” Thode said.

Specializing in sports injuries, Thode has become popular with athletes.

Associate Alexis Thode (left) and owner Laura Hulsebus team up as young chiropractors at Hulsebus Chiropractic in St. Peter.

Hulsebus chiropractors help people get well while helping the community

Story and Photos By PAT BECK editor@apgsomn.com

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wner Laura Hulsebus and associate Alexis Thode are making an impact on their community on and off their job at Hulsebus Chiropractic at 206 W. Walnut St. in St. Peter.

Besides helping patients to get well, they are giving back to the community by volunteering their time, talents and treasures.

Asked about what she enjoys about the profession, Hulsebus said, “It’s really fun helping people get the most out of their life by feeling well. That’s the most rewarding part.”

Echoing her partner, Thode said she enjoys helping people get back to doing things that they like and be pain free while doing them.

Husebus and Thode have been active in the community in different ways.

Husebus, who has owned the business since purchasAPRIL 2022

ing it from Craig Hartman in 2008, has spent a lot of time at St. Peter Chamber of Commerce events, volunteering on the chamber board , the St. Peter hospital commission and the Women Celebrating Women Committee. She has been a guest speaker at clinics on health and wellness at Gustavus Adolphus College. She allows college interns who might be in the athletic training program and high school students a chance to shadow her and Thode as they care for patients.

“It’s nice to give back to people that are still learning whether it’s the chiropractic profession or health and wellness,” Hulsebus said. “Our kids are in the public schools and one plays basketball and one plays on the hockey team. We get into a lot of events just from our kids being in programs.”

Hulsebus, 40, who lives in St. Peter with her husband, Joey and their two sons, 11 and 6, also impacts the community by giving money locally whether it be advertising and marketing, printing the fire department calendar and sponsoring golf tournaments or the high school.

“Community events, I find that’s more important than

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Chiropractor Alexis Thode gives a spinal adjustment to Patty Krenik at Hulsebus Chiropractic in St. Peter.

In her internships while earning her doctorate of Chiropractic from Northwestern Heath Sciences in Bloomington, she worked with professional athletes (Minnesota Vixen women’s football team) and different semipro and pro teams in the Twin Cities area who would come to her school.

“I have a background of working with a lot of athletes,” said Thode, who also earned a bachelor of science in exercise science and psychology from Washington State University in Pollman, Washington. “I’m working on getting additional certification which makes me more specialized in that field.

“Every chiropractor has their own spin on it. We all

HULSEBUS

Continued on page 16 C1 Page

Aimee Robinson stands at the back of the Le Center Ambulance.

On calls, she’s often the EMT in the back while another volunteer drives in the front.

Le Center EMT and RN

Aimee Robinson

cares for community on and off the clock

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Story and Photos By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com

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n Feb. 17, 2018, Brian Hoffman had just finished clearing the last inch of snow from the driveway of his father’s Le Center home. He was in the house, talking with his father and his wife, when suddenly he stopped speaking and his head fell to his chest. Hoffman was suffering a heart attack.

Aimee Robinson had been a crew member on the Le Center Volunteer Ambulance for around four or five years when she received the emergency call. Together with Le Center EMTs Neal Stocker and Sonya Squires, Robinson raced to the scene while Hoffman’s sister delivered CPR to the unconscious Hoffman.

The all-volunteer squad assumed command of the situation and loaded Hoffman into the back of the ambulance. The team strapped him to a LUCAS device to provide consistent chest compressions as they sped toward an emergency helicopter in the Tri-City United Le Center parking lot. Before reaching the school, the responders delivered three shocks from a Johnson’s Automated External Defibrillator.

After around six minutes, Robinson and the ambulance crew brought back Hoffman’s pulse. Within seven to 10 minutes, he could blink his eyes and speak. He was fully revived approximately 22 minutes after the ambulance crew first reached him.

According to the Center of Disease Control, 90% of people who have a cardiac arrest outside the hospital die.

But thanks to the early intervention of family and the volunteer emergency responders, Hoffman beat the odds.

He survived the heart attack and was safely transported to Abbott Northwestern Hospital by helicopter.

Robinson, now assistant director of the Le Center Volunteer Ambulance, looks back at that moment as her greatest win in her eight years as a crew member.

Alongside emergency responders from the Le Center Police Department and Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office, Robinson and the ambulance volunteers received a Saving a Life award in 2018 for their efforts.

“Things like that, you join wanting to have those wins,” said Robinson. “They’re very few and far between, so when it does happen, it sticks with you and makes you proud.”

While Robinson appreciates the recognition, it’s not awards or credit that motivate the 32-year old EMT to dedicate her free time to serving the 4,000 people in the Le Center area; it’s about doing what you can to help people in danger wake up to see their family the next day.

“We not only brought him back but also made sure their family member was still there. It’s just being able to help somebody,” said Robinson. “They don’t need to be thankful or grateful, because at the time, they’re just going through a lot and it’s less of a burden.”

ON AND OFF THE CLOCK

Robinson has dedicated her life to treating others both in and outside of her career. For the past two years, she has been employed as a registered nurse (RN) in the Cardiology Clinic at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato.

At the clinic, Robinson helps patients take care of their hearts. Her duties range from teaching patients about their pacemakers to inserting coronary stents to conducting an angiogram — an X-ray scan of blood flow in the arteries and veins — in addition to checking vital signs and medical histories as well as answering patient questions.

Robinson doesn’t know when she caught the bug for health care, but it’s been her chosen line of work for more than a decade. She began her career as a certified nursing assistant at a local assisted living facility while pursuing her associate’s degree in nursing at South

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APRIL 2022

Aimee Robinson applies a resuscitator to a CPR dummy. As the Le Center Volunteer Ambulance Assistant Director, Robinson often helps out with CPR classes and demonstrations. Carson Hughes/southernminn.com)

Central College in 2012. She eventually went back to school in 2019 and graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato with a bachelor’s.

Around a year after her earning her associate’s, Robinson turned her eyes toward the Le Center Volunteer Ambulance. The New Prague-born nurse was a relative newcomer to the community, having recently purchased a home with her now husband when she found a flyer on her door invitAimee Robinson, assistant director of the Le Center Volunteer Ambulance and an RN at the Mayo ing her to join the Health System Cardiology Clinic in Mankato dedicates her hours to helping people in need. ambulance team. enough to provide 24/7 service to Le Center and assist “It was a dream communities in Le Sueur County, so experienced EMTs, of mine just like it was to be a nurse. I was able to suclike Robinson, have picked up the slack. ceed with [nursing] so I thought I might as well,” said Robinson is on call once a week, while also working Robinson. “So I had a flyer on my door that said ‘Do you 24-hour shifts once a month Friday through Monday. It’s want to join?” and I came down for Family Fun Night a shift that’s required Robinson to sacrifice time with and met with one of the members. I got a tour, applied friends, time for her favorite things like camping, cookand I was just there ever since.” ing, and gardening, as well as time with family.

Despite the challenges that come with balancing MAKING SACRIFICES nursing, volunteering, family and friendships, Robinson The Le Center Volunteer Ambulance is one of the few remains undeterred, thanks to her enthusiasm for helping others. ambulance services that is run entirely by volunteers.

“If it’s something that I like, I’m willing to do it,” said Over 20 trained EMTs make up the team, with most Robinson. “I like to be busy. I’m not somebody who working one 12-hour day shift or night shift a week and a continuous 12-hour shift throughout the weekend once likes to sit around, so the lifestyle works for me so far.”

She’s also supported by a team of dedicated EMTs a month.

However, the ambulance is short on members. Each EMT sticking to their 12-hour schedule currently isn’t AIMEE ROBINSON Continued on page 5

40 & Under

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Theater Manager/Musical Director/science teacher Robert Deering is passionate about bringing out the arts at St. Peter High School. (File photo/southernminn.com).

By BEN CAMP ben.camp@apgsomn.com

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From science class to the stage,

SPHS teacher

Deering does it all

rom the northern suburbs of Chicago, Robert Deering grew up in a world with exposure to a large variety of artistic expression. When he watched his school’s show choir as a child, the flame of passion for the arts burned bright within him, and he knew one day he wanted to be on that stage.

“As an elementary school kid, our district had a show choir with full outfits with sequins and vests, and as soon as I saw them, I knew I wanted to do that,” Deering said.

Now, as science teacher at St. Peter High School, he continues to inspire the next generation of students to seek some kind of appreciation for the arts. Outside of the classroom is where Deering spends most of his time as he helps to continue to shape the arts program for the school, which has seen a massive amount of growth in the last five years.

Working alongside a growing creative team, the program has gone from not having to think twice about the possibility of selling out the state-of-the-art auditorium to expecting to pack the house, not just once, but for multiple showings.

“We went from a full audience in the old school my first year, to standing room only for ‘Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat’ the following year in a theater with three times as many seats,” Deering said.

Finding a home in southwest Minnesota was not always the plan for Deering. When he applied for a teaching position at the St. Peter High School in the summer of 2016, he new almost nothing about the area’s level of passion for so many aspects of life, including the arts.

“After my first year in Rochester, I interviewed with St. Peter and just asked if I could help with the arts, because it would be cool to help out with my background in dance,” said Deering. “Little did I know, the school had just put Scott Hermanson in place to help reinvigorate the program.”

And reinvigorate the program is what they did. From one musical every couple of years to go along with the competitive one-act-play in winter and a spring play, the team now produces a fall musical every year, along with the other showings.

One of the biggest factors for the success and growth of the program has been the concerted efforts taken to allow anyone to find a role within the drama program, regardless of their other interests. From meetings with the activities director around scheduling to ensure athletes can still act if they want, to making someone feel welcome in the program whether they have experience or not, Deering worked to make it as appealing to students as possible.

“Our program really tries to do our best to integrate other groups like the athletes and make it possible for them to be able to work within the schedules,” he noted.

“If you consider yourself an athlete, I’m almost positive you will be a good dancer, because a lot of dance is where you put your weight while you’re moving.”

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By opening the doors to as many people as possible and allowing them to find a role within the program, he hopes that the spark of inspiration he got as a child is there for the future generations to seize.

Deering said, “Even if they aren’t involved in the arts after high school, they can carry that passion for the arts and lessons they learned about working with other people and what they learned about themselves.”

Another way he has fostered his love for the arts into his science teaching is in a recurring project alongside the English program. By pairing themes of choreography alongside the 11th-grade reading of “The Great Gatsby,” the two departments allow the students to put together dance routines to capture and express the themes of the novel.

One major surprise for Deering came from how passionate the people of St. Peter have been in their support of the arts and the amount of heart and effort the students and parents put in to make the productions the experiences they have become.

“How I’d explain it to the people who don’t know much about the area is how arts focused it is — not just artists themselves, but people that genuinely love to take in the arts.”

That level of passion for these kinds of experiences has allowed Deering to continue to share his love of the stage with not just his own student performers, but the community at large, and hopefully the next generation.

“At the end of the day, my goal is to create a value for the arts that everyone will carry with them.”  Reach Reporter Ben Camp at 931-8566 or follow him on Twitter @SPHvalleysports. © Copyright 2022 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.

The SPHS spring Play production of “Kokonut High” hits the Performing Arts Center stage for three shows this weekend.

Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Members of the SPHS spring play cast and crew includes: Front row (l to r), Kaylee Moreau, Haydon Grams, Jaden Neubauer, Teagan Weiss, Henry Olson, McKenzie McCann, Kaiden Burmeister, Kyle Fogal, Isaac Sawyer, Shay Kelley.

Second row, Autumn Pauly, Madison Abels, Obie Alcantara Alvarez, Claire Severson, Claire Dimock, Noah Faulstich, Isabel Panciera, Nora Leonard, Gloria Toupence, Sarah Borgmeier.

Third row, co-director Robbie Deering, Kate Hildebrandt, Megan Beran, Nia Weiss, David Doherty-Bohn, Mara Johnson, Eleanor Grinnell, Noah Gassman, Breeley Ruble, Katie Engeldinger, Lauren Mayer, Ethan Niemeyer, Hannah Hansen, co-director Jen Maldonado.

Back row, Josiah Johnson, Katie Hamman, Matthew Springer, Jonathan Haas, Charlie Redmond, Jack Leonard, and Dani Epper.

Not pictured are Abbey Latourelle and Servanda Alcantara Alvarez. (File Photo/St. Peter Public Schools)

“That’s where a lot of people do step away and it’s understandable.That’s where it is hard,” said Robinson, “It is a volunteer. You are giving up your time for yourself, willing to step in and cover extra shifts. Robinson said the ambulance offers flexibility for its members and sup- your family, your friends to help people that you don’t ports them, even if they need to take an extended leave of know. That is for some and for them that’s great and for others it’s not for them and it’s completely understood. absence.

“We’re lucky that we have a lot of members that cover You try to find that target audience that understands it is more than they should need to, but it’s because they’re so tough but is willing to make those sacrifices to help othdedicated to the service and helping others and their com- ers.” munity,” said Robinson.“The more members we have, the less amount of hours needed to be covered by individuBECOMING A LEADER als. It takes the burden off and more is always going to be In her commitment to the ambulance service, Robinson better.” hasn’t held back from adding more responsibilities to her Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Robinson has also plate. Within the last year, she was voted in as a memberput her own health on the line to care for the health of of-large, allowing her to speak to the Ambulance Comothers as both an essential worker and an emergency mission on behalf of the ambulance service and its needs. responder.

The commission is made up of members representing Le Early on in the pandemic, the ambulance was chalCenter and surrounding townships and helps finance the lenged by the shortage of PPE (Personal Protective ambulance service.

Equipment), said Robinson, though supplies have been Then, as of three months ago, Robinson rose to the rank recovering. of assistant director. She’s the right hand woman to the Call volumes are also returning to normal compared to ambulance director, Stan Stocker, and is charged with dethe past two years. In years prior, Robinson said fewer veloping strategies to recruit and mentor new members. people were calling for the ambulance out of fear of ex“She’s a little spitfire,” said Stocker. “You tell her to do posing themselves to COVID-19 at a hospital. That same something, and she’s right on top of it, helping out any fear weighed on the already difficult task of recruiting way possible. She’s a go-getter, that’s for sure.” new members.

As a leader, Stocker said Robinson is always search-

AIMEE ROBINSON

Continued from page 3

ing for activities to bring the crew closer together and support community interest in the ambulance. Over the past few years, she has helmed Family Fun Night, the service’s biggest annual fundraiser. Featuring a dinner and kid-friendly activities like bounce houses and bean bags, Family Fun Night raises proceeds for equipment and upgrades and helps recruit new members.

“She’s always trying to get the members to broaden their horizon as far as becoming more of a family. She’s not one to sit back and do nothing,” said Stocker. “She always wants to do activities so that we can show the community what we’re doing. Like for our Family Fun Night, setting up little stunts or little plays so that people can see what we do.”

Robinson also assists in all the ambulance’s usual functions, like CPR classes and the spaghetti feed fundraiser.

She’s also highly involved in planning future events, like the upcoming 50th anniversary.

“I like learning. I like how unpredictable it is and I like being there for somebody in their time of need,” she said.

“I took on the leadership role, because I wanted to be the change for our service because times are changing and I want to make Le Center ambulance the best that it can be and I hope I along with Stan can continue to improve it.”  Reach Reporter Carson Hughes at 507-931-8575. ©Copyright 2022 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All Rights Reserved.

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Emily Sunderman, left, and Meghan Roby, right, have both played a key role at Church of St. Anne’s in Le Sueur in recent years.

Sunderman and Roby help move St. Anne’s forward

Story and Photos By TOM NELSON Guest Contributor

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ounded in 1852, the Church of St. Anne has been an integral part of life in Le Sueur for 170 years. The future of the church appears to be in good hands, thanks in part to the dedication and service of two of its under-40 leaders Meghan Roby and Emily Sunderman.

Roby has served as St. Anne’s director of music since 2012, and Sunderman was hired as the church’s director of faith formation (Religious Education) in 2019.

“They have both been amazing in their roles here at St. Anne’s,” Father Chris Shofner said. “Both Meghan and Emily have school-aged children, and that in itself is significant, because all the work that they do has a very personal importance to them. They know what they want to see for their own children and it is not much different than what other parents want for their children. There is an insight there for the needs of the families and that helps them respond that much more effectively.”

“By doing that, they have created a sense of community connection with C6 Page

other young families. This is a ministry for them and they see the development and formation of their own children and their own children’s peers as something that is a priority.’

MEGHAN ROBY As St. Anne’s Director of Music, Roby is able to utilize her skills, lifelong love of music and her faith during her work week. A native of Ripon, Wisc., Roby developed an early attachment to music through her time in church.

“Growing up in Wisconsin, I attended Catholic School and I remember always loving singing and the musical aspects of the mass,” Roby said. “As far back as I can remember, I have loved to sing and I grew up in a family where that was nurtured and encouraged.”

The support of her community and family helped shape her career decision, although some of that encouragement came in a bit different format from one of her former teachers.

“I studied piano and voice all the way through high school. I remember distinctly in high school my physics professor, who I really liked, telling me I shouldn’t

Meghan Roby is the Director of Music at St. Anne’s Church in Le Sueur.

go into music because I wouldn’t make it,” Roby said. “I kind of tucked that away and made it a personal challenge.

My parents were supportive of my talent and I decided to go to college for music and everything has really fallen into place

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for me.”

Roby added to the story, “I did end up seeing that physics professor a few years out of college and he was very proud of me for sticking with what I wanted to do.”

APRIL 2022

After graduation from high school, Roby and teaching at the college level to be able to lead the choirs and grow the music completed her undergraduate studies at Knox College (Galesburg, Ill.) in 2004 and program here,” Roby said.

“This is a such a great opportunity for later received a master’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Iowa me to work with the students and children of St. Anne’s. I have almost 50 students in 2008. in my children’s choir, and just getting to Her path to Le Sueur began when she work with them once a week, teach them met her future husband Joe Roby during their undergraduate years at Knox College. mass music and sacred songs is so rewarding. They are so full of joy when they are The couple went on to get married at St. Anne’s Church in 2008. At that time, Roby singing…they sound like little cherubs.”

Roby continued, “I also work very was working as a professor at Rochester Tech Community College and her husband closely with Emily Sunderman and she and I both have a real passion and mission was working at IBM in Rochester. to involve our youth in our church. They The couple later moved to the area in are the future of our church and we want 2011 when Joe Roby took a new job in to engage them and get them excited about Le Sueur. Roby had been in town for being here and really speak to their interjust about a year when the position at St. ests. I feel like music is such a universal Anne’s became available and she joined the church’s staff as its Director of Music language, so being able to offer the youth choir and different programs that Emily in 2012 after the passing of former direcdoes…we really try to brainstorm together tor Shirley Ann Monahan. to see what we can do to serve the youth “I think it was really what I like to call of our church.” a ‘God-incidence,’ not a coincidence In addition to but a ‘Godthe support incidence’ that of her parents we ended up growing up, moving to Le “They have both been Roby credits Sueur because her husband even though amazing in their roles here with being one I pursued my at St. Anne’s. Both Meghan of the keys to master’s in her success at vocal perforand Emily have school-aged St. Anne’s. The mance and children, and that in itself is couple have was teaching four children, at the college significant, because all the including Gabe level, I was work that they do has a very (6th grade), felt very pasClara (4th sionate about personal importance to them. grade), Rosie sacred music They know what they want (1st grade) and serving the and Patrick church with my to see for their own children (Pre-School). talents,” Roby and it is not much different Joe Roby also said . “When serves as an we moved herr, than what other parents want accompanist the previous for their children. There is in the church director Shirley an insight there for the needs and was an Monahan had economics and just passed of the families and that helps music double away, so St. them respond that much more major at Know Anne’s found College. itself without effectively.”

“My husa director, and band Joe is it just seemed - Father Chris Shofner also a musiso seamless for cian and one me to step in of the accompanist here at St. Anne, and I and serve in that way. couldn’t do what I do without his sup“Since then it has been such a blessing in my life, because I am able to stay home port. It is definitely a team effort, and he and I together have built this youth choir part time and raise our kids and work and I am excited to see how that grows part-time here at the church directing the three choirs. I also schedule all the accom- in the future,” Roby said. “We definitely saw a need for a youth choir. So Joe and I panists and cantors, and take care of the music for funerals and weddings. So it has decided to start that up. It is growing every been a real labor of love and I really enjoy year and it is really a great opportunity for students of that age to participate in mass it.” musically.”

Roby added, “One of my elementary Father Shofner noted, “She has created school teachers said to me to remember to this beautiful community of the choir ask God how you can use your talents to members who have these shared talents serve him. So a prayer I always included when I was praying was ‘Lord let me use and love for music. They (the choirs) have my talents to serve you.’ I feel like that re- helped enhance the liturgies that we offer ally came full circle when we moved back and she does a great job with it. She is to Le Sueur and there was this opening at very skilled in that realm of music and very good at inviting and encouraging othour parish for a music director.” ers to bring their gifts forward.”

Roby has helped nurture and grow the Roby also praised the St. Anne’s commusic program at St. Anne’s during her munity and the support provided by the tenure in the parish. Along with helping parish. maintain the church’s adult choir, Roby “There are so many supportive people and her husband Joe have created a youth and I am very lucky being the music direcchoir for middle school and high school students along with helping grow the chil- tor here,” Roby said. “To have a music dren’s choir for the grade school students.

“I have been able to use all the skills I SUNDERMAN & ROBY had gotten through my music education Continued on page 8 APRIL 2022

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Emily Sunderman is the Director of Faith Formation at St. Anne’s Church in Le Sueur.

SUNDERMAN & ROBY Continued from page 7

ministry group that is so selfless and so passionate about what they do. Art and Barb Straub have been a great inspiration to me and mentors. As I took on this position, they showed me the ropes and how things were done before. They’ve really been helpful.”

The Straub’s praised the work that Roby has done during her time at St. Anne’s, “She is an exceptional teacher, well organized, and an acrobat…that is she is able to balance a home life and a professional life well. Her organizational skills are exemplary. She is talented, gifted, skilled in her musical ability and personal communication. Meghan shares her gifts and brings forth the talents of those about her, regardless of their music skill level.

“Personally, Meghan is an exceptional soloist and musician. She is building a musical base of youngsters that will continue into the future. She works well with children of all ages, as well as adults.

To summarize , she is both a short-term and long-term planner and the music she selects is a variety that appeals to the age level with whom she is working, preschool through adult.”

Roby has become attached to life in Le Sueur and the similarities to her small town upbringing in Ripon, Wisc.

“Growing up in Ripon, which is also a small town in Wisconsin, I was drawn to come back to a small town to raise my family and that was important to me,” Roby said. “There is nothing like a small town where people watch out for you and you know everyone, it is such a comforting feeling and then when you add St. Anne’s into that, it is like a family within that.”

Roby’s intends to continue her connection with St. Anne’s in the future and also continue using her talents to help grow the church’s music program and spread the message of the church.

“It is a labor of love, but when I am in C8 Page

church directing the choirs and they are singing, whether it is my adult choir with members in their 70s and 80s all the way down to my children’s choir where I have little first graders, it is so rewarding for me to allow them the opportunity to be actively participating in their faith and actively participating in the mass,” Roby said.

“Music is such a universal language and it brings people more deeply into their faith than just words and scripture. Music touches peoples hearts and souls and to provide that is what makes it worth it for me. I see myself in this position, God willing, for years and years to come. My family is part of St. Anne’s and I can’t picture myself doing this anywhere else.

This is where I plan to be.”

EMILY SUNDERMAN As a child, Sunderman grew up attending Catholic School and went to St. Vince De Paul Church in the Twin Cities’ suburb of Osseo. She went on to graduate from Totino-Grace High School before enrolling at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

A double major in entrepreneurship and Catholic studies with a minor in family studies, Sunderman’s career path was formed somewhat by a study abroad program in Italy offered through St. Thomas.

“In my junior year, I had the opportunity to study in Rome at the Pontifical University in Vatican City, and that was through the Catholic Studies program at St. Thomas,” Sunderman said. “I did a program in the spring of 2007 and studied at the Pontifical University and it was during that semester that I had a lot of different moments while I was abroad that I felt I was guided toward this work and that this was the path I should take as opposed to the business path.

“The School of Entrepreneurship at St. Thomas is wonderful and I learned so many skills that I use for our farm because I help Tyler (Sunderman) do the books,

Sunderman soon became a volunteer catechist in the Wednesday night programs at St. Anne in 2010. She also volunteered as a substitute teach at the St. Anne’s school and has continued her connection with the church ever since. In 2019, Sunderman joined the staff at St. Anne’s as its Director of Faith Formation.

“I am so impressed with her determination just to make sure that everything is in order, the catchiest are supported and the kids have what they need to learn,” Father Shofner said. “She (Emily) is a very faithfilled person and that is what motivates her to keep going day-to-day. She has created a beautiful connection with the families that we serve in that program.”

As both a parent in the parish and a member of the staff at St. Anne’s, Sunderman brings a unique perspective to her position and will also have all five of her children attending the St. Anne’s school in 2021-22.

“In my position, I wear many hats on a given day,” Sunderman said. “Not only am I here as a parishioner but this is also the one year that all five of our children are at St. Anne’s school. So I am here as a school parent but also in an official capacity as a staff member and working not only with our school kids but also with our parish families whose children attend the public school.”

Her duties include overseeing the Wednesday night programs at St. Anne’s so I am still using that part of my educaas children prepare for first communion tion on an everyday basis…but as far as my vocation goes, serving the church and and first reconciliation in second grade working with students definitely became a and also for the two-year confirmation program in grades 9-10. Sunderman also passion for me.” works closely with St. Anne’s second At UST, Sunderman also met her grade teacher Anne Gindt to insure that husband (Tyler), who grew up in the Le the students attending St. Anne’s receive Sueur area. The couple married in 2010 the same sacramental prep as the students and moved back to his family’s farm. in the Wednesday evening program.

The couple currently raise crops on the Sunderman coordinates all of these faith property and are the seventh generation of Sunderman’s on the farm property near Le formation programs, which includes setSueur. Although Tyler Sunderman was not ting up the program’s calendar, setting up Catholic, the couple decided to raise their special events, maintaining the curriculum children in the Catholic Church and joined and arranging for volunteer instructors.

In addition, Sunderman is one of the the parish at St. Anne’s. The couple now has five children including William, Paul, teachers in the Early Catholic Family Life (ECFL) classes at St. Anne’s that meet on Connor, Monica and Max. the weekends.

“I have always served the Catholic “It focuses on families who have chilChurch throughout my entire life. I grew up active in our home parish and even in dren from birth through their pre-school college I taught religious education on years,” Sunderman said. “It ministers to Wednesday nights when I was in school,” that demographic of our parish. I coordiSunderman said. “When we moved to Le nate that but I also get to teach the parent Sueur, I joined St. Anne’s as a parishioportion of that program and I really enjoy ner and checked the box that I would be that.” happy to help out in the school and with Her goal is to try and engage the youth the Wednesday night program.” of the church and get them motivated to

The Church of St. Anne’s has served the Le Sueur community since 1852.

Valley Profiles

APRIL 2022

Meghan Roby and Emily Sunderman converse at St. Anne’s in Le Sueur. Both are young leaders of departments at the church and school.

become active members of St. Anne’s.

Sunderman has worked together with Meghan Roby to begin offering youth masses on Sunday evenings and recruit students for ministry roles in the church that had been filled by adults in the past.

Fun activity nights and events have also been introduced during Sunderman’s tenure at St. Anne’s.

“That was not happening here at St. Anne’s when I was hired in August of 2019,” Sunderman said. “We were just getting things going and had only met a few times and then COVID hit. So, we had to shut down a lot of those in-person opportunities for awhile. This year with some of the restrictions being lifted, we are doing our best to get the in-person things up and running again.”

Some of those activities have included kickball nights, bonfires, hayrides in the fall and a special Advent prayer service.

To complete the circle, Sunderman continues to serve as a substitute teacher at St. Anne’s - a position she has worked with for the past 11 years.

Sunderman credits her family for her connection with the church and her faith, along with her desire to serve in the field of religious education.

“My family has been very supportive and instilled an attitude of service. When we were in high school, I was volunteering for our parish in Vacation Bible school and things like that,” Sunderman said.

“Now as my own family has grown, the support of my family has evolved from my parents and my sister to my husband, and his family…having the support of my family is huge because they help to make the opportunity for me to be able to serve here.

“My own kids serve as one of my bigAPRIL 2022

gest motivators. I looked at the work that I am doing now, and next year our oldest will transition into the Wednesday night program that I run here, so I am trying to do my best so we can build the program not just for our current students but also for the students who are to come.

Sunderman continued, “With students, I think it is very important for them to have a strong academic foundation but also given everything in our society and world today, it is even more important to provide a strong faith based foundation as well. I view this office, and not just what I do, but also what our catechists and parish does is to try and help instill a strong faith and strong foundation in our children…they will have that with them for the rest of their lives.”

As she looks toward her future, Sunderman looks to her service any St. Anne’s as a way to provide a good foundation for the continued growth of the programs offered by the church.

“I enjoy getting to know our families and getting to work with both the parents and students of our parish. The unique aspect of having this job is being able to make those connections with them,” Sunderman said. “My family will continue to be my number one priority but as my family continues to grow older, I also hope to be able to have our program at St. Anne’s grow and make it a strong and stable presence here in our parish and community.”

The impact that both Roby and Sunderman has made at St. Anne’s was again highlighted by Art and Barb Straub. “What makes these two people exceptional is that they are not stuck in the past or present, rather, they look to the future…they are people of HOPE!” 

WestMager.com 424 S Minnesota Ave, St Peter, MN 56082 507-934-6050 Insurance products issued by Principal National Life Insurance Co. (except in NY) and Principal Life Insurance Co. Securities and advisory products offered through Principal Securities, Inc., 800/247-1737, member SIPC. Principal National, Principal Life, and Principal Securities, Inc. are members of the Principal Financial Group®, Des Moines, IA 50392. Warren West and Casey West, Principal National and Principal Life Financial Representatives, Principal Securities Registered Representatives, Investment Adviser Representatives. West & Mager Insurance and Financial services is not an affiliate of any company of the Principal Financial Group 1997567-022022

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Insurance Agent/Owner Carolyn Mager is ready to serve her clients in her office at West and Mager Insurance and Financial Services.

It’s not all about money for insurance agent

Carolyn Mager Story and Photos By PAT BECK editor@apgsomn.com

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would never look at her clients as a dollar figure.

“The industry is so focused on following the money instead of focusing on what’s best for each individual,” Mager said. “If we really had a system that focused on people’s wellbeing, both mental and physical health, I could wish myself out of a job. But as long as I’m getting up in the morning and feeling like I’m helping people, it falls into place.”

She continued, “What if we had a system that truly wanted to keep people healthy? Not where we keep them

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arolyn Mager’s greatest goal in her 15 years in the insurance business is not to make the most sales as possible.

An insurance agent/partner with West & Mager Insurance and Financial Services in St. Peter, Mager said her first priority is to be helpful.

Early in her career, she promised herself that she

sick enough so that they keep running to the doctor and generating claims, which then rolls into more medications and more money for big pharma. And the more you go to the doctor means more money for the health system and the insurance companies.

“If I can help someone $300 by switching pharmacies, or I’m sorry you got that diagnosis but if we can change your insurance to this, it can minimize your out-of-pocket cost. Anytime I can save anybody money, it makes me “The industry is so really happy.”

Mager finds focused on following the job rewardthe money instead of ing when focusing on what’s best clients “say that they’re so for each individual. If glad that you explained that, we really had a system weren’t that focused on people’s we understanding that or we wellbeing, both mental were so overand physical health, I whelmed.”

West & could wish myself out Mager offers of a job. But as long as insurance through 17 I’m getting up in the different morning and feeling companies. like I’m helping people, The majority of the busiit falls into place.” ness is with Blue Cross - Carolyn Mager and UCare, but they represent others.

The securities’ contracts are offered through Principal Financial based in Des Moines, Iowa.

West & Mager basically offers four types of insurance: health (specializing in Medicare), life, disability and long-term care.

“We insure people, not things,” Mager said. “From the investment side of things, it’s anything from annuities to IRA’s.”

Mager researches companies and advises clients on which to choose, based a number of factors including which county they live in, the type of Medicare supplement plan chosen, the ease of access on the website, access to clinics in the network, the coverage, prescription drug coverage and the price formula of the premium. Although Mager gets credit for a sale, she does not charge clients a fee.

“You pay the exact same premium per month whether you have an agent or not,” Mager said. “But by me submitting the application, I get assigned as their agent or broker. Then the insurance companies pay me a commission for providing servicing because I’m the one who could call on their behalf.”

Mager said she is inherently frugal.

“I know some agents will purposely try to sell the most expensive plan because hopefully it will be the least amount of questions,” Mager said. “With more premium, it will be better coverage. I try to weigh all the pros and cons. Sometimes I might recommend a client to have a zero dollar premium plan, which some of the Medicare plans are.”

“If someone takes little or no meds and the ones they do are covered well, they don’t need as good of coverage. A lower deductible also isn’t necessary if they are only going to the doctor for preventive care.”

While Mager tries to get the best deal possible, she knows the importance of comprehensive insurance coverage for people who need it. She is a diabetic who needs insulin regularly.

“I have other people say I’m not used to having a $300 co-pay if I go to the hospital,” Mager said. “I’d rather pay more premium. I take time analyzing every clients’ drugs, if they’re willing to share their health conditions, how often do they doctor. We don’t want people overpaying premiums that they’re never going to get back but also making sure that they have coverage.”

Mager thinks people need an agent for a number of reasons including questions on bills, keeping track of APRIL 2022

Insurance Agent/Owner Carolyn Mager works with client relations specialist Tami Kazeney at West and Mager Insurance and Financial Services in St. Peter.

prescription price changes and for more face-to-face personal service rather than calling an 800 number.

“A lot of people don’t have the basics of what is the original Medicare. What are these types of supplements?

It’s so overwhelming that some people don’t know where to start or they randomly pick something on price alone.

Sometimes they’re hit with a bigger bill because their doctor was out of network or they didn’t realize that their drug wasn’t going to be on the formulary.

“What sets us apart from other agencies is that we proactively reach out to every one of our Medicare clients and say ‘this has changed a lot, and we think you “I like solving puzzles maybe don’t want to and doing research. auto renew.

We have a When it’s go time in different plan the fall when we have suggestion.’”

Asked about hundreds of clients what she emailing us, dropping likes about the work, off and mailing their Mager said, medication lists and we “I’ve always liked that have to plug in all this teaching side. data and analyze this I’ve actually at MSU plan over this plan, it’s taught as adjunct daunting at times, but I professor.

“I like think it’s kind of fun.” solving puzzles and - Carolyn Mager doing research. When it’s go time in the fall when we have hundreds of clients emailing us, dropping off and mailing their medication lists and we have to plug in all this data and analyze this plan over this plan, it’s daunting at times, but I think it’s kind of fun.”

Mager, 39, quickly advanced in business to become one of the three owners in 2009 at the age of 27. Buster West founded the business in 1971. His son, Casey West, also became a partner in 2009.

But Mager didn’t plan on working in the insurance and financial business.

She started out by accident.

While working on her master’s degree in speech communication and minoring in English and sociology at APRIL 2022

Minnesota State University, Mankato, she asked Buster West for a reference.

“My plan was to be a college professor,” Mager said.

“I asked Buster for a reference because I was going to apply for a job at MSU in the admissions department and start my PhD work. Buster said, ‘I’ll be a reference for you, but why don’t you come work for me instead?’”

And, after some soul searching, she became the office manager in 2006 at age 24.

“I didn’t mean any offense to him , but I said insurance and financial sounds so boring, so I won’t do it,” Mager said. “And then things fall into place and months later I’m his office manager trying to learn what’s an IRA and what’s this and that. It was all pretty foreign to me. After about a year of working for him, then I started getting licensed. I got my insurance license. I got my securities

license. And then he mentored me into figuring out how this world works, how to run a meeting and what questions to ask.

“When you’re young and new and green, you don’t know where to start. It’s kind of terrifying, but I’m grateful that he saw something in me.”

West hired Mager because “she has amazing empathy.

She’s really good with people. You can teach skills, but you can’t teach nice.”

Mager also always works to answer people’s questions.

“If you ask her a question, she wants to give you an answer,” West said. “And she doesn’t like questions that don’t have answers. Her clients have really hard questions, somewhere in the Social Security or Medicare law, and she will find it. She’s relentless when it comes to finding an answer.”

After 15 years, Mager decided to stop being a financial adviser and focus on her greatest interest: insurance.

“When I had my daughter in 2017, I hung up my securities’ hat,” Mager said. “So as it stands today, I’m just on the insurance side.”

Besides her work, Mager is active in the community as 15-year member and current president of the St. Peter Lions Club and volunteering with the St. Peter Chamber of Commerce Diplomats who do ribbon cuttings for new or expanding businesses and host Business After Hours.

“What I like best about the Lions is we do volunteer things like the Kick Back Pack program or the breakfast we do for fundraisers to donate to things,” Mager said.

“The diplomats is fun. We’re like the welcome wagon to St. Peter.”

Mager also keeps busy with her family. She and her husband, Ryan, have a daughter, Paige, 4 1/2. They live in Carolyn’s hometown of Le Center, where she grew up on the family farm.

“I have the most amazing family in the world, and they are my favorite pastime when I’m not working,” Mager said. “It’s not only Ryan and Paige, but my parents and my sister and her fiancé and my in-laws. I am one blessed lady!”

In addition to Mager and the Wests, Tami Kazeney serves as a client relations specialist, who Mager relies on greatly.

“I call her superwoman,” Mager said. “She’s like the best human being you will ever meet. She’s so kind and she’s so smart, and she has an amazing work ethic. We would not be able to do what we do without that woman.” 

West and Mager Insurance and Financial Services staff gather at the front desk. From left are: Buster West, Tami Kazeney, Carolyn Mager and Casey West.

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Certified exercise therapist Nicole Boelter and certified physical therapist Matt Toggle are ready and willing to help motivate patients to get stronger and healthier through movement. Exercise also can reduce pain and increase flexibility, range of motion and balance.

Story and Photos By PAT BECK editor@apgsomn.com

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wo young and highly energetic employees at River’s Edge Hospital in St. Peter are making a big difference in people’s health and the community.

Nicole Boelter, 32, reached her eighth anniversary March 11 as a clinical exercise physiologist based in Live Well Fitness center on the north side of the hospital.

Matt Tuggle, 31, has been a physical therapist on the south side of the hospital for the last 5½ years after graduating from college.

But they each also interact with the community, making even more impact on peoples’ lives.

NICOLE BOELTER

River’s Edge Hospital certified exercise therapist Nicole Boelter leads a balance class.

River’s Edge exercise physiologist, physical therapist make an impact on the community C12 Page

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Boelter works one-on-one with people in the gym, getting them started on their wellness goals.

“I’ll meet with them so I know a little bit about their health history, their body in general,” Boelter said. “Knee replacements have been typical. They may have any other needs that their doctor said they should exercise for. What do they want to get back to doing? Or if they want to stay at home by themselves.

“We’re in the gym, so at any point they can ask questions if they’re ready to increase more exercise or add strength training. Then if they have any changes in their health, I help be an advocate for them and help them get the help that they need or keep them moving.”

Boelter also built up fitness center by bringing in classes including balance, arthritis, Parkinson’s, Rock Steady Boxing, strength training and “I Can Prevent Diabetes” with Jen Duncan, diabetes educator and dietician.

Boelter’s patients enjoy taking classes with her.

Working with Boelter for eight years, Sandy Grothow, 76, said during a balance class that, “She’s the best instructor in the world. She’s full of energy and makes the class fun. She does every age group, which is nice. She’s a very special person. If we have personal issues, she’ll help with that, too. It’s been great to be part of this. And she’s good with old people like us. She’s so young. She keeps us going.”

Grothow said the balance class has helped her in many ways. “I like to continue with it every week, so I don’t lose the balance. It works.

The exercises she gives us here we take home.”

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Physical therapist Deb Mattson and occupational therapist Tracie Lasata also work with Boelter.

The gym is open to ages 18 and up, but Boelter focuses on helping seniors to keep moving.

“It’s important to keep moving, so that brings them to the gym,” Boelter said.

“We are learning more and more about the importance of moving for overall health, mental health, physical health, emotional health, decreasing the risk of heart disease, some cancers, managing blood sugar and blood pressure. And they’re confident that they don’t feel like they’re going to fall or they can be at home.

“Most of our population is over the age of 65. They can be different ages depending on their health needs. We help keep them moving, feeling good and independent as possible, that’s one of my biggest goals. Movement is a great contributor to that. We also have cardiac rehab in there now.”

Boelter’s high energy and friendly personality fits in well with her profession.

Although exercising is hard, Boelter tries to create an atmosphere that makes it exciting.

Her mission in life is to greet everyone with a smile and a hello.

“It can fully change their day,” Boelter said. “When people come in, they don’t want to exercise. We all know that it’s hard. I want to change that mindset and get them excited to go to the gym. They meet people in the gym and they develop relationships. It’s not just exercise. It’s friendships that develop between the staff and the members and member to member.

“You want to come in and exercise and you want to feel good. If we can start the day off or end the day with that, I think it makes a huge difference in everybody’s life. Exercising releases endorphins that make you feel good.”

Boelter also is involved in community activities.

The hospital volunteers at many community events, such as at the Nicollet County Fair in the senior center. They do presentations or speak at events and hold classes at the hospital through the Minnesota Agency on Aging and Catholic Charities. They do workshops for caregivers and for managing chronic pain. Boelter also does employee wellness programs at the hospital.

Boelter and her husband, Cole, live in Le Sueur with their five young children: twin 1-year-olds, a 3-year-old, a 6-yearold and an 8-year-old.

“They keep me just as busy as I am at work,” she said. “They’re my trainers at home. They keep me going, and there’s no sitting down at home, so then I have to bring that energy here.”

Boelter said her favorite part of the job is “working with people. And every day is different. Developing relationships and seeing the changes in everyboys’ life that exercising and movement can bring.

“It doesn’t feel like work. I wake up, and I’m excited to come here. At night I’m thinking about what I’m going to do in class the next day. It’s something that I thoroughly enjoy and my members make it easy and fun. They make me want to do better, learn more and bring them more.”

The COVID-19 pandemic virus shut down the fitness center for about a year, starting in March 2020. That kept people from coming in and exercising to stay in shape.

“Your biggest worry is all those people that need to be exercising,” Boelter said.

“We have vulnerable people that moveAPRIL 2022

ment is so important, socialization is important and getting out into the community is important. The pandemic caused a lot of isolation and people not moving as much. They’re not walking to the grocery store, they’re not running to the post office, so my biggest thing was how could we reach people and keep them moving even though the gym is closed.”

Boelter started a Facebook page and posted videos on what to do at home. She sent emails out to those in classes and set up a Zoom video account to teach classes.

“It’s not ideal because coming together is most important,” Boelter said. “But when the gym opened, safety was our No. 1 priority: social distancing, masking, cleaning and sanitizing to keep it safe for everybody.”

She still offers Zoom exercises for people not wanting to come in, or who are on vacation or not feeling safe walking outside in the wintertime.

“It hit hard in the beginning, but we are getting that momentum back and getting people to feel comfortable going out, ready to move and ready to reach their goals again,” Boelter said.

Boelter earned a bachelor’s in exercise, sports science and nutrition from St. Kate’s in St. Paul and a master’s in exercise physiology at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and she also specializes in exercise prescription and chronic disease and movement.

After she graduated, she attended community education classes for fall prevention and senior specific classes in chronic disease injuries and the like.

MATT TUGGLE

Tuggle also has an active life focused on helping as many people as he can in many ways.

He works a lot with athletes and younger patients.

One of the new things he’s taken on over the last couple of years is treating concussions. He did a presentation at the end of March on concussions tailored toward parents focusing on signs to look for their children.

Tuggle said not a lot of people know that physical therapists treat concussions.

“We have the training to treat concussions to get back into a sport or simply back into life,” Tuggle said. “A lot of concussions are not sports related. A lot are related to falls, blast trauma and things like that, so I’ve definitely taken on patients in particular that have had concussions to get back to work.”

Another big focus of Tuggle is working with younger patients, such as high school athletes. “ I enjoy working with younger people because I’ve always enjoyed that role model type of mentorship, so I think that serves me well working with that population,” Tuggle said.

Toggle also has worked with physical therapy students for three years as an instructor during their clinical rotation.

HIs continued his focus on youth last summer when he coached soccer for the first time as an assistant for the St. Peter Soccer Club U12 boys team.

“I wish I had started this 10 years ago,” Tuggle said. “It was a great source of joy just because it correlates with using my experiences to help other people.”

He has a goal to coach middle school or high school soccer. He played high school soccer as a defender along with his brothers.

Coaching soccer plays into his Christian

River’s Edge Hospital certified physical therapist Matt Toggle works with Carol Schultz, 79, on a balance machine.

faith to help other people. He is a member of Sunrise Assembly of God in St. Peter.

“My role as a coach is not only to coach the kids,” Toggle said. “I grew up playing soccer all my life. It’s a great sport. It definitely got me back into the tactics of it. Along with the tactics, it’s a sport with physical activity, which correlates with my position as a physical therapist teaching them how to treat others, how to work along with their team to overcome adversity. Life definitely takes turns, like mine has, but there’s always a plan or a sense of purpose that God has for people, so it’s cool to implement that in my coaching.”

Toggle also is a member of Kiwanis Club of St. Peter which focuses on helping children.

“I enjoy Kiwanis because I’ve wanted to get better involved in helping my community and getting to know people,” Toggle said. “It’s a smaller group, but I still think we make a difference in our community to help the kids or help other people.”

In addition there are things that Tuggle hopes to help change in the healthcare field.

“That includes our emphasis more on our mental health,” he said. “Mental health is a piece that gets missed a lot in all healthcare fields. That absolutely influences our physical symptoms and our overall health.”

Tuggle is a big advocate for mental health because his dad died by suicide in 2019.

“I’ve realized how big mental health is not only in that aspect,” Tuggle said, “but in people that battle depression, people that have anxieties, people that have other

Valley Profiles

psyche issues as well.”

That’s why he started the suicide support group in the hospital in September 2021. He leads a group that meets once a month to help those who have gone through suicide or who know the experience of suicide loss.

“The primary point is just to validate what they’re going through and their grief journey is unique to them and in addition that other people have been through similar experiences,” Tuggle said.

“Mental health, especially suicide, does not get talked about in our society and gets glossed over or diverted from. That’s where healing comes from that communication and that ability to have others listen to you.”

Asked about what he enjoys about his career, Toggle said it is the time that he can spend with patients to build a working relationship.

“It’s gratifying to know that you made a difference in a way that benefitted them,” Toggle said.

He also enjoys collaborating with other health care providers at the hospital including doctors, nurses, surgeons and social workers.

“I hope through my experiences with patients that I continue to develop as a therapist and continue to help others,” Toggle said. “That’s the main reason I got into my career.”

Tuggle, who is single and lives in St. Peter, earned a bachelor of science in kinesiology health and a minor in gerontology at Iowa State University and a doctorate in physical therapy at Des Moines University.  C13 Page

At 29 years old, Dani Blaschko is serving the taxpayers, drivers, hunters and fishermen of Le Sueur County as the county auditor-treasurer, head of the license bureau and ditch manager.

Auditor-Treasurer

Dani Blaschko

embraces public service, follows in mother’s footsteps Story and Photos By CARSON HUGHES carson.hughes@apgsomn.com

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rom an early age, Dani Blaschko developed a sense for public service. The Le Center native sprouted a taste for public accounting while visiting her mother, Le Sueur County Finance Director and Elections Administrator Carol Blaschko, in the Le Sueur County Government Center. Today, Blaschko walks those same halls as one of Le Sueur County’s youngest and most public-facing department heads.

At 29 years old, Blaschko quickly rose through the ranks to her current position as Le Sueur County auditor treasurer.

From collecting property taxes and issuing driver’s licenses to assisting the election process, few county officials work faceto-face with the public as much as the auditor treasurer.

CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS

Dani Blaschko assists a staff member in the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office. Since being promoted to auditor-treasurer in 2021, Blaschko has led the department and managed the team of staff with an open door policy.

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Valley Profiles

Blaschko and her office of eight full-time staff members manage every dollar that passes through Le Sueur County. The department accounts not only for the $23 million in property tax revenue the county received last year, but it also looks after state and federal aid, local sales tax revenues, county expenses, and assets.

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In addition, the Auditor Treasurer’s Office pays all county bills (with the exception of the Human Services Department), assists residents with property tax refunds, invests surplus dollars, collects delinquent taxes and oversees the sale of tax forfeited parcels.

“Every day is different. There’s always something new,” said Blaschko. “It’s customer interaction; it’s phone calls. We receive in all the county’s money, so every penny that makes its way to the county eventually makes its way to my office, and we receive that in.”

Managing Le Sueur County’s accounts and assisting taxpayers make up just one part of the auditor-treasurer’s responsibilities. Blaschko serves hunters, fishermen and drivers alike as the head of the county License Bureau. If you’ve recently registered your vehicle, renewed your driver’s license, picked up a liquor license for a local event or requested a fireworks permit for a Fourth of July celebration, you’ve met Blaschko or her staff.

“I think she goes the extra mile in customer service so that folks are served well when they comes into the License Bureau,” said Le Sueur County Administrator Joe Martin. “She’s also gone out of her way in improving communications and reaching out to land owners.”

On top of financial and licensing duties, Blaschko is also the county’s ditch manager, maintaining draining ditch funds and assessments and keeping inventory of the 236 miles of open ditches and 27 miles of tiled drainage systems within the county.

She also assists the elections administrator in the election process.

Between helping residents with their taxes, licenses and ditches and drainage, Blaschko and her staff are the county public servants residents interact with the most.

The auditor treasurer said that meeting with community members is the part of the job she looks forward to.

“I like just interacting with the taxpayers of Le Sueur County. I enjoy doing that when they come to the counter to pay their taxes. I like seeing them,” she said. “I also like dealing with money and balancing bank statements. I just enjoy the math piece of things.”

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

Even in her youth, Blaschko was committed to honing her professional skills. Before there was a Tri-City United School District, Blaschko graduated valedictorian from Le Center High School in 2011.

Blaschko was heavily involved in the Business Professionals of America (BPA) throughout her high school career and even earned a trip to the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, California during her junior year after placing first in Keyboarding Productions at the

Auditor-Treasurer Dani Blaschko serves the people of Le Sueur County alongside her mother, Finance Director and Elections Administrator Carol Blaschko. Dani Blaschko said she developed an interest in public accounting from watching her mom at work.

state level. Out of 74 students competing in the national conference, Blaschko placed 10th.

After high school, Blaschko enrolled in the Path to Purple program, spending two years at Rochester Community College before graduating from Winona State University with a business administration and accounting degree in 2016.

While attending college, Blaschko picked up a parttime role at the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office around 2012-13 and worked at the county between semesters.

A full-time position opened up shortly before graduation, and Blaschko accepted the opportunity to serve her hometown. Today, she lives in Le Center with her fiance and her chocolate Labrador Bailey.

“Family has always been very important to me,” said Blaschko. “I wanted to be as close to my family as I could be.”

With her office just a couple doors down from her

Auditor-Treasurer Dani Blaschko peruses files in the office. The department takes inventory of tax revenue, expenses, surpluses, assets, among other responsibilities.

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Valley Profiles

mother Carol Blaschko, Dani Blaschko is about as close to family as can be. As finance director and elections administrator, Carol Blaschko is independent of the Auditor-Treasurer’s Office. While they often work together, Blaschko doesn’t have to shoulder the awkwardness of overseeing a parent.

“I enjoy working with her every day. We’ve always had a good relationship with each other,” said Blaschko. “She does her duties and I do my duties. She is a wealth of knowledge that I love tapping into when I don’t know what to do, because she’s probably seen everything and anything that’s coming through this county and I enjoy working with her.”

The auditor-treasurer said it was growing up and seeing her mom give back to the community that eventually cultivated her interest in public accounting.

“I grew up visiting her, so I generally knew the people who worked here. She’s my role model. I’ve got big shoes to fill, but I follow in her path,” said Blaschko.

“Just seeing her be able to serve the residents of the community she grew up in is why I’m here, and why I’m still here is because I enjoy giving back to the community in ways that I can.”

Throughout her career, Blaschko has rolled with whatever challenges life throws at her. She earned her Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license while also working at the county. When the County Board of Commissioners established a ditch manager position in 2019, Blaschko took on the increased workload.

“I’ve always been curious about everything this office does, and I’ve never been afraid of a challenge,” said Blaschko. “For the last six years I am constantly learning things and getting involved with things.”

While she took on more and more responsibilities, a leadership role wasn’t on Blaschko’s mind until 2021, when seven-year auditor-treasurer and 28-year chief deputy treasurer Pam Simonette announced her retirement. Blaschko said she never imagined she would lead the department at 29, but she submitted her application and pounced at the offer.

Outside of the Auditor-Treasurer’s desk, Blaschko attends as many community events as she can. She dishes out spaghetti dinners at the Le Sueur County Ambulance Rehab fundraiser and volunteers at the Community Club stand at the Le Sueur County Fair.

In her spare time, Blaschko likes reading, going for walks (as much as one can in the Minnesota climate) and spends time at her family’s cabin in Blue Earth County. Reach Reporter Carson Hughes at 507-931-8575.

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Chiropractor Laura Hulsebus treats scar tissue on the foot of Patty Krenik at Hulsebus Chiropractic in St. Peter. The grafting improves circulation and mobility. Krenik had surgery with a bunion.

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go to school and learn chiropractic, but our passions drive what we do in our care. Like Laura, she really likes pediatrics and pregnancies. And I like more of the sports side, so I do more with the knees, the shoulders and the ankles, like things that aren’t the spine.”

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Hulsebus, who also earned her doctorate of Chiropractic from Northwestern Heath Sciences and her bachelor of arts degree in biology and chemistry from Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, said many people like coming to their office because they don’t do the same thing for every person. “We look at their issues and try to attack it from every avenue that we feel would be best to

Valley Profiles

help them heal and feel better.”

“And sometimes that’s a team approach from both of our brains,” Thode said. “There are some patients that prefer the way she adjusts the upper back but how I adjust their hips. So depending on what problems they’re having that day, it’s who they will pick to see.”

Hulsebus said, “Although we have our subspecialties, we really like helping everyone get better so that they have a better quality of life.”

Hulsebus said 60 percent of the injuries they treat are athletic injuries, although some of those may be people doing an athletic type of job with a repetitive motion such as manual labor or a weekend warrior including spring and summer golfers or marathoners.

In addition to Chiropractic services, Hulsebus also offers massage therapy by Certified Massage Therapist/ Certified Yoga Instructor Nadia Guenette.

St. Peter native Patty Krenik serves as the office manager.

Hulsebus added Thode as an associate in May of 2020 because of the demand.

“I wasn’t able to treat all the people that were calling,” Hulsebus said. “I needed extra help. And we can be open longer and it gives more flexibility to run after my kids events but also serve more people in the community with chiropractic care.”

The business, which George Hays started in his house across the street, continues to grow, although it took a setback like many businesses did during the COVID-19 pandemic virus.

Hulesbus didn’t shut down, but patients weren’t willing to come in because of the spreading pandemic.

Without care for a long time, people’s aches and pains became bigger.

“The headache people probably suffered the most because I have a lot of people who get adjusted routinely to prevent and help with their headache symptoms, so they weren’t coming in to get adjusted,” Hulsebus said. “Their headaches got much worse, so it’s hard to get them back down to their regular day plan. That was the biggest thing I noticed. “ 

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