REFLECTIONS

It was just like an old high school reunion. Only the honorees of a Blossoms Forever Banquet seemed to forget about age and found themselves rewinding to their high school days.

Since 2008, the Blooming Prairie High School Education Foundation has been honoring a select few each year.

What a rush it was for the six honored Blossom alumni to come back to their roots in BP. Honored were Becky Noble and Sue Zwiener as recipients of the Distinctive Service awards; Lisi (Ingvalson) Wright, sports Hall of Fame; Paul Vait, Athletic Hall of Fame; Tom Ressler, special recognition for creating the Awesome Blossom mascot; and Roger Sorenson, educator award.

Most of the early fun started with the social hour enabling classmates to exchange hugs or handshakes with Awesome Blossoms of years past.

A 2½-hour program showcased the award winners. Master of Ceremonies Jason Iacavino did a tremendous job in keeping the evening moving. The program lagged at times, but remember many of these award winners hadn’t seen one another for many years.

The BP Education Foundation is a strong entity, and it has paid homage to alumni of the past.

The Foundation was formed and established in 1999 by several strong supporters of Blooming Prairie Public Schools. The mission of the Foundation is “to contribute to the development of innovative programs, funding special equipment needs and private projects and programs to enhance the learning opportunities for students of Independent School District 756.”

Many people and businesses have donated monies for iPads, white boards, field trips, a robotics team, CPR mannequins, plasma cutter, STEAM projects, weight room upgrade, phonics instruction support items, etc.

The foundation has given out in excess of $1 million over the years.

Board members are Karen Fouarge, Lori Arndt, Judy Bishop, Sue Helgeson, Jenny Kelner, Bill Rinkenberger, Barb Kaplan, Roger Sorenson, Lisa Bruns, Alysa Ressler, Paul Heimgartner, Kristi Fiebiger, Katie Wencl, Rachel Blaedorn, Miranda Camery, Karen Frank, Susan Smith, and Addison Doocy.

School representatives are Superintendent Chris Staloch, Principal John Worke, Principal Jake Schwarz, and school board member Pam Hameister.

The Ed Foundation can be very proud of its accomplishments. It is a determined group intent on giving our students the best education possible. Blossom graduate Dennis Trom was in attendance and said he is going to try to convince Randolph area activists to come up with a similar program as done in BP.

Congratulations to the six award winners at the Blossoms Forever banquet last Saturday.