People

Have you ever dreamed of making a movie? Here’s your chance to help an up-and-coming local filmmaker finance his first feature-length film. Sam Dunnewold, a 2008 graduate of Northfield High School and 2012 graduate of Carleton College, has a script, a cast, production crew, and locations. Now he needs the support of his community. He and his creative partners have set up a Kickstarter page to attract investors to the project.  But Sam makes the pitch better than I can. Click the image below to view Sam's video for potential investors:

At the May 15 city council meeting, Councilor Betsey Buckheit recognized two students for their contributions to the city’s Complete Streets policy development. Ben Hellerstein, a Carleton senior, was instrumental in organizing the citizen group, which met for several months soliciting community support, and drafting the resolution which the council passed to direct the drafting of a policy. He had read about the Complete Streets Task Force in the Northfield News, contacted Councilor Buckheit and then scheduled meetings, provided agendas, brought in other Carleton students and generally kept the group on task.

This Week at the Northfield City Council Meeting

The St. Paul Pioneer Press begins its profile of St. Olaf faculty member Gordon Marino, "Meet the boxing philosopher of Northfield's St. Olaf College," with two "surprising" facts: 1) the Wall Street Journal has a boxing writer and 2) he's a philosophy professor at St. Olaf. "The life of Gordon Marino has a lot of twists like that," writes Richard Chin.

At their April 2012 board meeting, the Northfield Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) Board approved mini-grants to support eight projects and activities designed to benefit Northfield youth.  Funded projects included:

Writers’ Workshop Poetry Book.  ARTech students participating in the Writers’ Workshop group are compiling prose and poetry they have authored throughout the school year and are putting it into one publication, a poetry book.  Several copies of this journal will be given to the Key and area businesses who have hosted the writers during writing sessions this school year.

Latino Play Festival.  Students in the ESL (English as a Second Language) Performing Arts class at Northfield High School have spent the year writing and preparing plays.  Planned performances will be held at Carleton College and at the Northfield High School.  There will also be special performances for middle school students.  Evening performances at the Northfield High School are scheduled for May 11th and 12th.

St. Olaf President David R. Anderson '74 has announced that Matthew Marohl has been called to serve as college pastor. When Marohl assumes his new duties July 2, he will succeed W. Bruce Benson, who retired last spring after 30 years at St. Olaf, and interim pastor Ann Svennungsen, who recently was elected bishop of the Minneapolis synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

"The college pastor plays a central role in fostering our college's faith life, our students' vocational discernment, and our identity as a college of the church," Anderson says. "Pastor Marohl is a gifted preacher, an inquiring intellect who welcomes the diversity of religious expression, and an experienced spiritual guide. And he knows how to have fun with college-age students."

Rachel Matney and Fritz Bogott are the March/April 2012 recipients of the Healthy Community Initiative’s “Making a Difference” award.  The award celebrates those groups and individuals in the community who have a positive influence on Northfield youth.

After reading reports about the achievement gap in Minnesota and Northfield, Matney started thinking of local solutions.  She wondered:  are there willing and interested volunteers in Northfield who could be asked to assist in closing this gap?

She approached her husband, Fritz Bogott, with the question, and they sprang into action.  They contacted Northfield Public Schools, HCI, St. Olaf College and Carleton College.  Bogott reported that from the first meeting, the enthusiasm from the partners was “irrepressible.”   A new pilot initiative – Accelerate Northfield – was born, aiming to recruit volunteers to work in the Northfield schools primarily with youth who are struggling academically.  Matney and Bogott have played key roles in designing the Accelerate Northfield model and recruiting community volunteers.

Earlier this month Northfield’s Band of Ten Thousand Aches — an aging adult running club founded in 1989 — inducted longtime Northfield residents David Wee (at left in photo) and Peter Sandberg (at right) as the first members of its Hall of Fame.

It all began when Sandberg, assistant vice president for facilities at St. Olaf College, convinced his running friends to form a club/team to compete in the annual Edmund Fitzgerald 100k (62 mile) 8-person-team relay race along the North Shore. For years Sandberg ran the difficult pre-dawn 20k first leg (12 miles), setting the pace for Northfield’s Masters team (over age 40) to regularly finish first or second.

The Rice County Dollars and $ense program was featured on the front page of Wednesday’s Northfield News. In case you missed the article, check it out HERE.

The Northfield Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) is proud to partner on this new financial literacy program for local youth.  Dollars and $ense is funded by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education through the College Access Challenge Grant Program (a federal program that seeks to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education).

The Northfield Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) is currently collecting travel packages & promotions starting with the months of May and June.

Accommodations, restaurants, area attractions & retail shops are encouraged to collectively, or independently, develop their own enticing travel packages and/or share deals for spring and early summer promotion. 

General theme suggestions for the upcoming tourism season are around music, recreation, history and the arts tied with lodging, dining and shopping. See a list of upcoming events here. Please send submissions to info@northfieldchamber.com by Friday, April 20th.

This listing will be promoted through the Northfield CVB’s website at no cost to participants.

A trial date has been set for Semaj Williams, one of two men charged with first degree murder in the death of Northfield native Shea Stremcha.  Jury selection is expected to begin on Tuesday, May 15 with the trial itself likely beginning on Monday, May 21. Shea was killed during an invasion of his home located in an otherwise quiet residential neighborhood in south Minneapolis on July 20, 2011.  Williams has pleaded not guilty of the crime.

Up to 15 paid, full-time AmeriCorps positions will be available working with youth and families in the Northfield community for 2012-13.

Click HERE for information on the current postings, including contacts and the processes for applying.  Questions?  Contact HCI (507.664.3524; info@northfieldhci.org).

Positions currently accepting applications:

• AmeriCorps VISTA with Growing Up Healthy
• AmeriCorps VISTA with the HealthFinders Collaborative
• Accelerate Northfield VISTA
• VISTA with Northfield TORCH (Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes)
• Reading Corps Tutor — Greenvale Park Elementary School
• Reading Corps Tutor — Sibley Elementary School
• Math Enrichment Corps Tutor — Northfield Middle School (two positions!)
• Math Enrichment Corps Tutor — Greenvale Park Elementary School
• LINKing Youth & Families VISTA
• Promise Fellows — up to six positions at school and community sites

Amid falling bombs, electricity blackouts and medical personnel stretched to the breaking point, Dr. Mads Gilbert was one of only  two Westerners to witness the 2008-09 Israeli bombing of Gaza. Dr. Gilbert will talk about those harrowing days 16 days and the countless people who touched at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 14, 2012, at Tomson Hall 280, St Olaf College, Northfield. The event is free and open to the public. Gilbert will answer questions and sign books after his talk. Refreshments will be served.

Gilbert and Dr. Erik Fosse are co-authors of “Eyes in Gaza,” their day-by-day account of their experiences during “Operation Cast lead,” the Israeli military’s devastating attack on Gaza from Dec. 27, 2008, to Jan. 18, 2009. They worked around the clock with Palestinian doctors to provide medical attention to the wounded and the dying during the bombardment. They also contributed to some of the rare news reports that came out of Gaza during the assault.

The Community Action Center is seeking nominations for election to its Board of Directors. You may nominate yourself or someone else by completing an application and including a letter addressing the nominee’s skills, background, term availability and interest in serving on the Board. Nominations will be reviewed for upcoming vacancies and will be maintained for future consideration.