Generous gift to Sleepy Eye school

THUMBS UP: Lots of people donate lots of money to their school districts every year, but Christensen Farms in Sleepy Eye has set the bar high. This week it was announced that Christensen Farms will fund two positions for the Sleepy Eye School District for five years. The positions are a full-time counselor, and and ag teacher/FFA advisor.

The exact total of the gift won’t be determined until the district hires the new staff. But if one conservatively assumes each position will cost $50,000 in pay and benefits, over five years, that would be half a million dollars.

That kind of generosity deserves a lot of applause.

Gymnastics tourney

THUMBS UP: Congratulations to Kayla Goblirsch, who is representing New Ulm in the Minnesota State High School League 2019 State Gymnastics Tournament this weekend. Goblirsch, a freshman, is competing in the all-around competition at the U of M’s Maturi Pavilion today.

We wish her well, and hope it is the first of many trips to state for her and her New Ulm teammates.

Hitting the ice

THUMBS UP: It seems 90 is the new 20 around this area. A couple of weeks ago, 90-year-old Sylvia Reinhart took part in the Polar Plunge at St. Peter, diving into the frigid waters of Hallett’s Pond to help support Special Olympics.

This weekend, John Sloot, 91, of Winthrop will be participating in the New Ulm Figure Skating Club’s ice show, “Blades on Broadway.” He’ll skate in a couple of numbers, and while he probably won’t be doing any triple axels, he deserves a great big thumbs up.

Reinhart and Sloot are showing us youngsters of 60 or so that there’s lots of fun to be had by being active.