Thank you, Chad!
On Wednesday February 27th we had the pleasure of hearing a classification speech by new member Chad Hjellming. The first Chad explained to us all how to pronounce his last name, and after he did, we all breathe a sigh of relief! Hjellming is pronounced “Yell-Ming.” The Hj combination make a Y sound. Chad is from Caledonia Minnesota, the Wild Turkey Capitol of Minnesota. He describes his childhood as very similar to the movie "The Sandlot" playing baseball most days, hanging out with your team, maybe go to the pool, and Mom would call you for dinner just by yelling at the top of her lungs when it was time to come home. Chad's parents were hard workers. His dad owned and operated Bob's Shoe and Repair for 30 years, and when he would get home at the end of his work day, Mom would go waitress at the bowling alley. Chad has two older sisters.
Chad explained to us that he loves baseball, and it became very clear, he was not joking. He started playing as a child, and even went to Viterbo College in La Cross Wisconsin on a scholarship. He loves baseball, but realized he wasn't going to make it his career, so he decided to get a job. He started writing the sports column for his local newspaper. His major for 3.5 years of college had been education, but he quickly learned to be a good writer, and changed his major to writing. He took a job at the Winona Daily News covering sports, and eventually started to cover stories other than sports to make his work schedule include more day time hours so he could be home with his family at night.
He lives with his wife Stephanie in Cannon Falls, MN. She is a special education teacher in Cannon Falls High School for 17 years. They have two children Hannah (15) and Ryan (11). Chad's other passion is coaching his children in the sports they love as much as their dad. These include softball, baseball and basketball. You can see how proud Chad is of Hannah and Ryan when he talks about them!
In December Chad became the regional publisher of APG and over sees the employees. As long as he has lived in Cannon Falls, he has always worked in some capacity in the newspaper business. Various newspapers within about a 30 -45-minute drive of home.
He brings tons of experience to our local paper in Faribault and we are so excited to have him as a Rotarian!!