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Keith O. did double-duty, offering both our invocation and leading us in song. President Zack then indicated he and Cody O. would be at United Way the next morning to pick up food backbacks and deliver them to the school, with other volunteers welcome. Steve A. led off the bragging, telling us that former Rotarian Bob Williams was at his place over the weekend and also happy that Steve finally received the title card to the 1934 Bentley purchased ten months ago. Hal L. told us he missed the social because he and his son were continuing what is now a 40-year tradition of going to Itaska State Park and photographing its fall beauty. Ryan W. was happy that we are singing again even though trying to read the lyrics made him wonder if he needed glasses. Mary P. expressed her happiness about Brian T. joining Trilogy Real Estate. Dave J. told us he and Dolly finished off the last of their two lugs of peaches the day before and they were good to the last bite. Buzz L. paid in for missing the social (jokingly referred to as a "drunken brawl") and also to acknowledge our program for the day, who Buzz has known since the speaker's high school days. Keith O. punched off two spots on his card to thank Brian T. for arranging the social and interesting tour of Outstate Brewing and to ask all of us to keep Jim Johnson's family in our thoughts and prayers; Jim died last week, having retired from Olson Furniture after being in its employ for 44 years. Deb M. paid for being absent for two weeks, the first week on a trip to see her fourth-grade grandson play football, which also allowed her to experience Lansesboro and the Root River State Trail; the second week she was visiting her son who lives north of Devil's Lake and made a trip up to the International Peace Garden, which she really enjoyed. John M. then told us he spent two weeks at the Peace Garden when it was being constructed. There was a Rotary Minute and two out of two questions were answered correctly. President Zack then proceeded to induct Cody Odland and the Salvation Army, represented at the meeting by Josh Bowyer, into the club. Zack sponsored Cody while John M. sponsored the Salvation Army.  For our program, Cody Odland gave his classification talk. He started out by thanking us for making him feel very welcome, as evidenced by the fact he received a call at 9:00 p.m. the night before the meeting asking that he be our program; what more of a welcome could you want? Cody was born, raised, and graduated from Fergus Falls, His father Mike is at Mabel Murphys while his mother Sheila is in the health care industry. He has an older sister and younger sister and is the uncle to three nephews. Cody played hockey in high school and graduated in 2010. After high school, Cody enrolled in the wind energy program at Minnesota West in Canby, graduating with honors. He was in the Student Senate while there, serving as its President the second year. He was selected for an internship that got him in the field, describing the occupation as a "high risk career path" with a lot of training and providing beautiful vistas from his elevated work platforms (typically 300 feet up in the air). He began at a Pennsylvania wind farm with 88 turbines that were maintained by a team of six technicians, and also supported units in New York, Massachusetts and Ohio. They all went bungy jumping once, but Cody did not seem inclined to ever do that again. He then became a wind site lead technician, in charge of the Pennsylvania crew. His next stop was for GE in upstate New York as a wind site manager, delivering and maintaining GE's obligations to its customers. He then became a wind regional services manager, training new managers and setting up new sites. He is now a solar and storage energy customer account manager. The job allows him to work from home and it is his responsibility to ensure that GE meet its sales, warranties and service obligations in North America. He summed up his effort as taking all the components GE provides to help make its customers successful. GE is also getting more involved with storage (battery) solutions, and he is/will be doing the same things in that area. One of the customers Cody works with will be constructing an entire storage facility in 2025. To access the turbines, you are usually going straight up and down a ladder, with some structures having built in devices to assist in the process. There is also a hoist system to raise and lower parts and tools. It is an industry standard for two people to make the climb and descent in all cases. Cody said there has been an environmental component to every site he has been at, whether to protect wildlife or vegetation. Cody indicated that overtime his comfort level with working at heights changed and that companies are now starting to look at the life span of a technician as it is not very long. As to his Rotary expectations, Cody said he wants to utilize his skills and talents to make a difference through Rotary. |
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