March 22, 2023 (Mar 26, 2023)

March 22, 2023 at Rotary

Kathy Austvold checked us in on another snowy Wednesday where turnout was great despite the ice and snow. The Salvation Army kitchen dished up comfort food of meatballs, mashed potatoes & gravy & corn. President Ken called us to order and led us in the pledge and 4-way Test while Hal Leland provided an invocation. Matt Schroeder was introduced as a guest, but Ken noted he’s “this close” to becoming a member.

Student Guests were introduced by Dean Monke. FFHS Swimmers Tyler Kubela and William Ness Ludwig each shared more about themselves. Tyler is the son of Tammy & Blair Kubela. He’s a senior and has also participated in Football, Track, and Band during high school as well as coaching youth flyers swimming. Tyler plans to go to M State and then transfer to NDSU to get a teaching degree to teach High School History. William is the son of Jacqueline and Raymond Ness Ludwig. He’s also a senior and has been involved in choir and band. William plans to attend Bemidji State University for aquatic biology.

Service Update

Zach reminded us tomorrow is United Way backpack food bag delivery day. Our next date for filling food bags is next Tuesday, March 28^th at 8:30 at the United Way office. If you can help, just show up, or let Zach know.

Invoice Update

Treasurer Brian thanked everyone for their sympathies and condolences on the loss of his mother. He also thanked members for their patience as 2^nd quarter invoices have not been sent out yet. Members can expect both the 2^nd and 3^rd quarter invoices in April.

April Programs & Club Duties

Jamie reminded The Colonel and His Privates they have programs and setup/takedown to be planning for next month.

Brags & Fines

Dave Johnson – Celebrated his 81^st birthday and threw in 81 dollars in commemoration. Also said he’s scheduled for back surgery on Monday morning.
Steve Leitte – attended a birthday party for his hunting buddy Kenny Larson’s 102^nd birthday (and he still hunted 5 days with Steve last year!). Steve was encouraged to follow Dave’s lead and throw in $102 but he only managed $10.
John MacFarlane – bragged that his youngest son & wife recently finished their home north of Lida Greens and it’s featured in Lake & Home Magazine this month.
Keith Olson – bragged about today’s speaker reminiscing that he met Carrie Brimhall when she moved to Fergus Falls and remarking that he’s so happy she & Matt made their home here. Keith also threw in $30 for his 30^th year in Rotary. He joined in March of 1993!
Hal Leland – also sang praises for speaker Carrie Brimhall. Hal called Carrie “one of the most fantastic success stories in education” he has ever witnessed. Carrie started as an intern in 1998 after graduating from Concordia and was assigned to work with Hal at the community college. This was the beginning of a career that has encompassed every aspect of the community college. Along the way she earned a doctorate degree in leadership and became President of the “largest and best community & technical college in the state of MN.” In Hal’s words "WOW – I just can’t compliment her enough.”

With that Zach deferred to Hal’s brag as his introduction of our speaker, Dr. Carrie Brimhall, President of M State.

Carrie shared that she was the first child in her family to attend college and she thanked Hal for saying yes to her for an internship request when she first came to town. Highlights of Carrie’s program included:

Carrie oversees all four M State campuses – Fergus Falls, Detroit Lakes, Wadena and Moorhead. In addition, there are two sites – one in Alexandria for surgical technology and one in North Minneapolis at the Excel energy building. At the Excel site they recently started a program to try to change the face of the line industry worker in our nation. It is limited to people who live in that region.
There are currently 6,000 students in credit-based program (on campus and in high schools) and 9,000 students in non-credit instruction (when M State works with people at their worksite on skill-based training such as CDL training).
Two weeks ago, M State was one of 15 colleges in the nation awarded a grant (4.2 million) to create a hospital on wheels to bring to rural high schools to expose them to health care careers.
60% of students attend M State tuition free. This is possible mostly through scholarships offered by the local college foundation and from the State of Minnesota.
This is the first year of feeling more normal than they have since COVID.
Athletics are a big part of the local campus and it’s been a very successful year:
- Men’s golf team earned 12^th consecutive trip to the National Tournament – longest running streak in the nation.
- Volleyball team took 5^th in the nation – coached by local Abby Crowser.
- Football team ended with 9-1 record and a #1 ranking in the nation. Lost in championship to NDSCS after the quarterback was injured. The team boasted the national player of the year and seven players who were named to all American team.
- Men’s basketball led by local coach Ted Critchley had their best season in a long time.
Fine arts are also up & running strong again.
Almost every student who lives in housing is an athlete – 30 states represented! The board recently approved spending $1 million to update Fergus Falls campus housing units.
New things coming to M State this fall:
- Bringing back business faculty for the campus – full time on campus.
- Elementary education.
- The echo tech technical program is coming back for those interested in learning the imaging technology used to analyze a patient's heart.

Carrie ended with time for Q&A and addressed questions on topics of state funding, the wind turbine on campus, and legislative issues in higher ed.

President Ken adjourned the meeting at 1pm.