Rolla, ND

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.  

Last Thursday, a number of people from the community gathered at the United Telephone Conference Room in Rolla to search for the clues to rural community servival.  The session was sponsored by the Rolla JDA (Job Development Authority), with  lunch provided by the Rolla Horizons program.  The Heartland Center for Leadership Development has organized a five session Webinar focusing on rural communities  and their needs to survive.  The first session was entitled  “Rural Communities Can Thrive in the 21st Century”.  The following subjects will be, “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”. 

If you are interested in attending one of these Webinars, please  contact George Youngerman at 477-9130 or rollajda@utma.com. He can help with registration. 

Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, along with a batch of leaders and fun loving chaperones, hit the tubing/sledding slopes at Cross Roads Range a few miles from Rolla on Monday.  The hill was fast and bumpy and made for a lot of laughs and gasps. I’m not sure if any badges were earned for the event, but I bet one for bravery would have been in order. Some where in the neighborhood of 22 people enjoyed the outdoors and the boys. Wendel Held is the Boy Scout Master and Cameron Mickelson is the Cub Scout Master for the Rolla troops. Other adults having fun were Brett McCloud, Darla Graber and Jamie Horning. Three cheers to all the people who give their time to make the world a better place.

Once again Kimberly Wilhelmi Samuelson has provided our community with much needed culture.  She takes tiny little people and changes them into superstars. Her dance classes for pre-schoolers and elementary students gives the kids a chance to express their talents and dreams right here in our town. She also is instrumental in bringing  communities together for a common goal.  She works with kids from surrounding towns and has performances in each of them, usually at basketball games.  The kids love it and so do the parents, grandparents and the public at large.

Kids, skates, ice, chairs, friends, family - all of this put together makes FUN. ( We won’t tell the kids it’s exercise and that it’s good for them). The volunteer work and the weather have finally produced a skating rink on main street again this year. These last few days have been perfect for enjoying the facility. A few little setbacks have kept the warming house from appearing , but the plan is still in the works to get it to the site so the kids will have a place to put on their skates and warm up. 

The Job Fair Committee for the Rolla Horizons Program has been meeting regularly for the past several months.  The plans for the fair scheduled to take place at the Rolla school on February 3rd, are falling into place nicely.  We have approximately 33 presenters willing to talk to students from 8th grade through 12th grade about the work that they do and how students can get the education needed to follow that line of work. They will let the students know what kind of opportunity is available in the Rolla area, what the pay scale is and the pros and cons of the position.  Students from the Rock Lake, Rolette and Wolford High  Schools have been invited to attend.  The day will begin with a working luncheon for the presenters at ll:30.  They will then be directed to the area where they will be making their presentations.  6 15-20 minute sessions will be available from each presenter.  Students must choose which sessions they want to attend. They are given the opportunity to sign up for 4 .  At the end of the sessions all the presenters will be available for further questions.   Presenters are given the choice of arranging job shadowing. The shadowing will be scheduled for times other than school hours. We are looking forward to a great day. This is a chance for our students to see what is available right here in this community. We have had tremendous support from the school administration arranging this event.  We thank them sincerely. Committee members are: Mr. Brian Palmer representing Rolla School. Mr. Randy Loing, Rolla School. Paula Munro, Rolla Hospital.  Holly Cahill, Rolla Hospital. Val Edwards, Dacotah Bank. Maureen Munro, Munro Builders Supply. Members not pictured are Esther Krumwiede, Bethany McCloud, Brandon Elick and Collin Mangold.

We are having a community “social” on Sunday January 24 at the Legion Cabin. There will be a meal served at 5:00pm and from what I understand it is going to be  a do not miss this type meal!!!! The agenda for the evening will be the horizon committee reports so we can see what is happining in Rolla. Presentation Medical Center will give a presentation and report on the status of the hospital. The quasy-centennial (125th) status will also be presented. It’s going to be a full evening of information for the community so everyone is invited to participate in the “social”. See ya all on the 24th…………………….

A promotional project for Rolla consists of green tickets that participating businesses will give you for shopping this holiday season at their business. On Wed evening their will be a drawing for $500 at 6:30 and that will be Dec 9th and 16th. On Sat Dec 5th, 12th and 19th their will be three $500 drawings at 11:30, 12:30 and 1:30. You must be present to win. Lucky winners will have an extra special holiday this year!!!! Thank you Rolla Chamber for doing something special for your hometown shoppers……………..

The Tourism committee has been busy getting ideas about how to promote our great little community. One of the things they found was that so many of the brochures that were previously printed and distributed are out of date .  We need to come up with  a new logo or slogan that conveys who we are. They are going to work with the committee planning our 125th birthday. They talked about starting a contest asking for suggestions for a new catch phrase for us.  This is the first thing we need to do and then play up on it.  The committees members present at the Nov. 17th Social were: Joyce Rogers, Marietta Good, Becky Albert, Mary Jo Hannesson, and Albert Johnson.  They are excited about their assigned task and are anxious to get things moving.

One of the needs listed over and over in our survey of community improvements was a place for us to hold community events.  Our committee is working hard to research information requarding  location, function and cost relating to a new building for such a purpose. They have been visiting other communities, taking pictures  trying to come up with a plan that will work for us. Pictured are some of the committee members. They are Becky Albert, Fay Langseth, Leann Vollmer, Laura Hendrickson, Esther Krumwiede, Marge Johnson, and Charlotte Lassonde.

One of the committees that gave a report at our Horizons Social on November 17th, was the Info Hub Committee.  They are working on developing methods to communication that will enhance the cohesiveness of the community.  One of the members, Curt Bonn, has created a unique website on which anyone can post an upcoming event. The event site is www.rollaric.blogspot.com   The posting site is www.rollaric.58367@blogger.comIt is much like writing an e-mail. He organizes the submissions with catchy little pictures and headlines. He removes an item when it has become out dated.  Another item the committee is working on is a pamphlet to hand out to newcomers to let them know about many different aspects of the community. Information like church times, pastors, organizations, officers, meeting times. etc. 

Pictured are some of the committee members. Karen Armstrong, Laura Hendrickson, Dan Vining, Mae Murphy, Jim Langseth and Charlotte Lassonde. Other members not pictured are Curt Bonn and Kerry Lentz.

Last Tuesday, November 17th, was a fine day for our Horizons Program.  A good number of people gathered at the Legion Cabin for food, friendship and an update on the activities of the committees that came out of our study circles.  We had reports from five of the working committees.

Gloria covert, our Horzions Coach, started the session with an inspirational video. She was able to show the video with the projector and screen that was given to our community by the Horizons Program.  We could hear every word she said, because she was using the wireless mic from Horizons. We also have a digital camera, a dry chalk board and a three fold display board compliments of the Northwest Area Foundation.  We are very grateful for these gifts.  Thank You. We also had a number of books on display that will be donated to the public library and to the school library.

Thank you also to American Legion Auxiliary for a wonderful meal.