Mountain Lake native Noel Rahn to keynote MLAF fundraiser
Noel P. Rahn will be returning to his roots in order lend an assist to middle school students at the schools in his hometown – his alma mater, Mountain Lake Public School, along with Mountain Lake Christian.
Rahn will be the featured speaker at a Mountain Lake Area Foundation (MLAF) matching grant fundraising dinner on Friday, April 7, beginning at 5:30 p.m., at the Welcome Center at Heritage Village.
Tickets are on sale at the main office of The Good Samaritan Society of Mountain Lake-The Village, at Care & Share/10,000 Villages or from MLAF members (Wade Nelson, chair; Tim Swoboda, treasurer; Misty Karschnik, secretary; Vern Peterson, Brian Harder, Joyce Bucklin, Sharron Hanson, Pat Weir, Cheryl Hiebert and Kris Langland). Cost of each is $50 and includes a meal from PeaceMeals of Mountain Lake, along with vocal and instrumental entertainment by Mountain Lake Public High School senior Lily Kauffman and junior Jareya Harder, along with Mountain Lake Christian senior Danica Dick. The fundraiser helps support the MLAF drive to raise $2,500 in a matching grant proposal from Southwest Initiative Fund (SWIF).
The funds raised will go towards an Invention Project educational series for area students current in grades 5-8.
(See more on the curriculum below.)
Mountain Lake native son links growing up in area to his success
Noel P. Rahn of Edina, graduated from Mountain Lake Public High School (MLHS) 60 years ago this spring. He grew up on a farm in rural Mountain Lake; a farmsite that has been recognized as a Century Farm, putting down roots in 1893.
As active as he has been in his adult life, he was the same in high school. The 1957 Laker Yearbook shares this about the native son: NOEL RAHN Basketball 1,2,3 4; Football 1,2,3,4; Baseball 1,3,4; Track 1,2,3,4; Letterman’s Club 1,2,3 and President, 4; FFA 1, Sentinel, 2, Vice-President, 3 and President 4; Choir, 2; Glee Club, 2, 3, 4; Band, 1, 2, 3; Student Council, 2, Class President, 3 and Class Play, 4.
Rahn went on to play basketball for the Golden Gophers at the University of Minnesota’s “Barn” wearing jersey #30 as a 6′, 175-pound guard.
In 2009. he was inducted into the MLHS Athletic Hall of Fame as an Athlete.
Now a retired Twin Cities money manager, Rahn had been the Principal of The Rahn Group. He founded Geronimo Wind Energy, LLC in 2004 and served as Chair until selling the company to Algonquin Power Company in 2014.
From April 1974 to June 1998, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Investment Advisors, Inc. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Paladin Investment Associates, LLC. He was a Special Limited Partner of RWI Ventures and RWI Ventures I, L.P. He has also served as the Chairman of TRG Investors, LLC, and had
It was on Rahn’s impetus that Algonquin Power Company and Geronimo Energy, along with investors and local officials, developed a 200-megawatt wind farm in southwest Minnesota. Rahn began this foray into wind energy on his family’s land.
The Odell Wind Farm consist of 100 turbines of 2 megawatts each, spread across wind-blown farm fields in Cottonwood, Jackson, Martin and Watonwan counties.
The Odell project is an economic boost to this rural region, pumping nearly $2 million in payments to landowners each year for the next 20 years. After that, Algonquin will renegotiate its contract with Northern States Power (Xcel Energy), and new agreements will be forged with landowners who have a turbine standing on their property.
In addition to the payments to landowners, the four counties will share approximately $13.6 million in tax revenue over the course of the first 20 years of energy production from the turbines. Townships will collect an estimated $3.4 million during that same timeframe.
The wind farm also created 15 full-time jobs and pays approximately $40,000 per year into a Community Fund to benefit the small towns within Odell Wind Farm’s 24,000-acre footprint.
“I call wind ‘oil above the ground,’” Geronimo Energy founder and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Noel Rahn said at the groundbreaking for the wind farm. At that time, Rahn said his goal was to bring money into small towns.
The community fund is also something Rahn said no other wind farm developer was doing – and the money will directly benefit the people and communities. The money may be spent on anything from school projects to community pools, basketball courts or whatever the board chooses.
The new Odell Wind Farm was initially planned by Geronimo Energy in 2009, and then sold to Algonquin Power in 2014. This marks Algonquin’s first project in Minnesota, although it already has wind farms in Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
Inventing the possible
The Invention Project was presented by MLHS Principal Michelle Larson. It is a four-day summertime experience that balances STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) content and entrepreneurial concepts. During those four days, students from current grades 5-8 work through 12 sessions related to the invention cycle. The curriculum is published by the National Inventors Hall of Fame and delivered to the students by licensed teachers. Participants explore possibilities through dreaming, designing, engineering and marking. They will also be challenged to create their own invention while learning the principles of business such as rapid prototyping, marketing, shipping and profit.
The end goal is to stimulate interest in STEM among junior high students by providing experiences not in the regular classroom. In addition to the 12 invention cycle sessions, two additional components, Move and Hangout, will also be used. Move consists of games with a purpose related to creativity. Hangout is activities for small groups at the beginning and end of each day. These components foster relationship building among the students and encourage physical activity for a health lifestyle.
The sessions taught by three licensed teachers from the school district qualified in Science or upper elementary grade levels. Three high school or college student assistants will help with the project.
The school’s lunch program offers free breakfast and lunch in the summer. These free meals will be incorporated into the Invention Project day.
The normal cost of the program ($230/student) is beyond many of the school district’s families. In order to move forward with the project, a grant of $8,600 was received from the Remick Foundation. These funds will be used to purchase the curriculum ($7,500 for 12 sessions and $1,250 for Move and Hangout), create promotion material ($100) and pay stipends for the director ($500) and assistants ($600). MLAF monies will be combined with the Remick grant to cover the cost to present the project to students.
The requested payment of $30 registration fee for students will also be covered through part of the MLAF grant. Registration money will be used to pay the stipend for teachers ($1,500).
About the MLAF
The MLAF is a 501 (c) (3), and was established in 1996 to attract and administer charitable funds for the benefit of the Mountain Lake Community. It is a permanent resource for the community and provides leadership and financial resources in the form of grants, to meet the needs and economic and social growth of the community.
The MLAF Board of Directors includes Wade Nelson, chair; Tim Swoboda, treasurer; Misty Karschnik, secretary; Vern Peterson, Brian Harder, Joyce Bucklin, Sharron Hanson, Pat Weir, Cheryl Hiebert and Kris Langland.
Check out the MLAF Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/foundation.mtlake.org/.
