Rolla, ND

TRAIN ND from Lake Region State College in Devils Lake did a workshop on May 11th on this topic. We had a very nice turn out from a variety of community businesses. The Legion Auxiliary ladies served a very delicious meal and I know no one left hungry!!! Grace Kurtz the facilitator gave a very eye opening presentation on the role of front-line employees and the impact they have on a business and the community. She also showed us the link between tourism and customer service. A growing business has awesome front-line employees. Treat every customer as tho they are a “mystery shopper”. Keep that smile on your face even if you are having a bad day. Look in the mirror and who do you see, someone pleasant or someone pretty grumpy. Who do you think your customer would want to talk too??? All customers are important……..whether they are local or visitors to our community. Put a title behind your name of “ambassador” and be one for your business, community and state……..

Rolla will celebrate its’ 125 anniversary in July of 2013. The committee is currently seeking help from the public in selecting a logo for the event. Anyone interested in submitting a logo can do so by mailing it to The City of Rolla, P.O. Box 1200, Rolla, ND, 58367.

The Mt. Pleasant School Foundation held it’s 25th  annual meeting and dinner last Sunday.  Everyone enjoyed the meal ,the entertainment and the information shared by Mr. Palmer, Superintendent of Rolla School.

The foundation has four objectives.  They are to provide an on-going fund for high school graduates who desire a post-secondary education,to provide revenue for new and innovative educational materials that promote excellence in education and to assist in enhancement and improvements to educational facilities and needs of students, and to support and improve the faculty and instruction for students and works with the goal of improving overall academic excellence.

 Funds come from donations from families, organizations, memberships and memorials.  

Children’s Choir made of select fourth, fifth and sixth graders presented a part of the program as well as several members of the High School Vocal and Band departments .  National Qualifiers for FCCLA gave presentations. They are Kelsey Boe and Ethan Mickelson.  They will be attending the National Convention in Chicago this summer.

We were so happy to be able to host visiting physician Anthony Flagg and his wife Shannon, along with the  CEO of Northland Health Center, Fay Hagen and her husband Paul at our April Horizons Social.  Dr. Flagg is visiting the area and was interested in what sort of projects our Horizons Program is involved with.

The Social  was one of the last we will be holding before our 18 month journey with Horizons is completed.  We reviewed our progress with committee activity since we last met, and satisfied ourselves with wonderful food served by the American Legion Auxiliary.

The Activity/Community Center Committee reported that it meets the 3rd Thursday of every month working on ways to achieve the goal of a new building for Rolla.  They have asked Don Fry of Ottertail power Company to work with them in setting up timelines and goals . This partnership has proven quite beneficial.  Mr. Fry has prompted the community to come together to act upon a strategic plan for the city, which is critical for applying for grants. The JDA has also partnered with us in providing financial support for a grant writing website from private foundations . The target date for the completion of the new activity center is 2013. All of this planing is very exciting and proves that where there is a will there is a way.

Also reporting were the Tourism, Job Fair, Info Hub and Grant Writing Committees.  We are still working on a community garden and quasi-centennial activities.

One of the goals of the Rolla Horizons Program was to try to alert all the entities of the community of each others activities.  We didn’t want to duplicate each others efforts. Thrifty is as Thrifty does. One of the ways we are trying to keep each other current on activities is through our community blog site. If we all post our meetings and agendas we can remind each other of what is happening and work together.

Look for notices on www.rollaric.blogspot.com.  If you want to post a notice contact Curt Bonn.

Also notices are posted on the Rolla Chanel.  

Welcome to Main Street.  That’s the catchy title of our upcoming workshop for business owners, employees and residents .  We have partnered with TrainND, the American Legion and Horizons to bring this very worth while learning experience to our community. 

We are looking forward to a good crowd, since we sent out about 80 letters inviting people to come. The American Legion is donating space for the gathering, Horizons is responsible for the organizing and the food.  Train ND will provide the instructors.  

Summer is just around the corner and with that comes more travelers to our area. The workshop gives everyone help with how to put our best foot forward and make a good impression on those visitors who might stop by.  It will also offer ideas on how improve our customer service to the people we see on a regular basis. It’s sort of “Manners 101″.  It’s good to be reminded how to be pleasant and kind to one another.

If you are interested in attending, and have not yet registered log on to www.lrsc.edu/workforceand click on Rolla Horizons and sign up for the session.  You can also call  1-800-443-1313 ext. 1578.

The workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, May 11, 2010 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Food will be served beginning at 5:15. Registration  should be in by May 4, 2010. Hope to see you there.

We have had a wonderful response to the Computer Classes which are being offered by the Horizons Program to the community.

We have been able to acquire the very valuable expertise of Marlo Miller, an instructor with Train ND Northeast.  She has conducted 5 sessions to date and will begin a series of three classes on Basic to Intermediate MS Excel tomorrow evening.

She conducted two sessions of “What’s New in MS Office ‘07, with both classes full.  Her next series was three sessions of “Basic to Intermediate MS Word ‘07. 

By partnering with TrainND Northeast, and the Rolla Public School, The Horizons Program has been able to provide a much needed source of continuing education to the adults of our community.

The Rolla Job Development Authority, The Rolla Horizons program and Turtle Mountain Communications formed a partnership to conduct a session  of  five Webinars  put together by the Heartland Center for Leadership Development .

Each month people from Rolla get together in the conference room at the Turtle Mountain Communications building to join groups of similar individuals from different communities across the state. We are linked by computer and telephone hook-up. We can all hear the moderator and the other participants and are able to share our thoughts with them as well.  

The first session was entitled “Rural Communities Can Thrive in the 21st. Century.” The following sessions are entitled “Entrepreneurial Coaching — From Crisis to Economic Growth”,  “Plowing New Ground- Refreshed Leadership Development for Revitalized Economies”, “Energized Youth — Energized Communities” and “People Count– Rebuilding Rural Communities with People Attraction Strategies”

The JDA paid the registration for the group, Horizons provides the lunch and Turtle Mountain Communications provides the meeting space and the technical support.

The hospital sponsored a noon lunch and a program on domestic violence and abuse last Friday(19th). Domestic violence and abuse can be very common to most rural areas. It can be very easily hidden from the public. Everyone has a public and a private face. Have you ever heard it said ” he was such a nice guy I never would have thought he could do such a thing”. Domestic violence and child abuse go hand in hand. Be observant in your every day activities because you never know when something like this may come to light. If you see or know of this happening in your community please report it to the authorities, you just may save someones life!!!!! We can’t turn our cheek and hope it will go away……………domestic violence has no boundaries……….BE AWARE.……

Rolla was having a little fun today and celebrating a finnish holiday. I don’t know all the particulars concerning this specail Fin Day but if someone reading this has the background you are more than welcome to comment and bring us up to date on the holiday meaning. There was entertainment by John and Alfred at the Main Street Saloon along with food and beverages. A main street  parade topped off the afternoon of fun. The Finnsih Polar Bears definitely brought a smile to many faces……..good job guys…….thank you everyone for the fun and friendship on a sunshiny March day!!!!  Parade pics of the event are posted at the Rolla website, check them out………..

There was a day of festivity on Sat in Rolla. There was to be a snowmobile run but the nice balmy weather we were having kinda put the kibash to that event!!! But still the Turtle Mt Communication sponsored an excellent noon meal at the school for ALOT of people. There was a hard workin crew on hand to handle the crowd that showed up to win some awesome prizes that they were giving away along with the free meal. There was a kids carnival in the old gym that the CLOSE-UP students put together for a fundraiser so the kyds could have a little fun too.

A pinochle tournament was held at the Legion Cabin and a dart tournament was taking place at the Viking Inn and Main Street Saloon during the afternoon. The Chamber sponsored a steak fry in the evening at the Legion Cabin with the proceeds to go to the quasy-centennial. I helped out during the meal and clean-up and there was a good attendence for the meal and alot of friendly visiting taking place. It’s always nice to see the community working together for some fun and raising money for some good causes. The Chamber did an excellent job on the meal……………….

At our latest Horizons Community Social, representatives of Presentation Medical Center attended and explained to the gathering some of the difficulties facing the hospital at the present time.  There is a continuing problem with finances in our area and hospitals in rural areas in general.  Kinber Wraalstad, current administrator, encouraged all of us to use our local facilities whenever  possible.  There are tests  and procedures that can be done right here in our hospital and don’t have to be done out of town. Every dollar that can be kept in the community helps the hospital to maintain financial integrity.

Committee reports were given by the Job Fair, Community Center, Information Hub, Tourism , Grant Writing and the Quasi-Centennial.

Information of upcoming events was handed out. “Training North Dakota ” will present three sessions on MS Word,and Excel 2007 in March and April at the Rolla School. Also, a workshop ” Welcome to Main Street” is in the works.

The American Legion Auxiliary served a delicious chicken dinner.   

Last Wednesday (Feb 3rd) we held our long planned for Job Fair. It was fantastic!  We had 30 presenters tell 155 students from Rolla, Rock Lake and Rolette what they did for a living here in this area and give the students  information on how to pursue a career in their field. There was great community cooperation.  All of these presenters took time from their busy schedules to help with this project.  The school superintendent and principle were extremely helpful in organizing the day.  Since all 8th though 12th graders were involved in the sessions, classrooms were available for each presenter, making it easier for  good discussion. Students were able to attend 6 different sessions.  They were asked to take a few notes during each session and turn in their comments at the end of the day. Presenters and students filled out an evaluation form which will be used to plan our next fair. We thank the Horizons Program for providing pizza for the presenters and cookies for the students. Our goal with this project was to encourage the young people of the community to look at what is available for them right here in their own back yard. We need them to keep our community alive and growing.