Lifestyle

If you have asked about me about writing a will or have been thinking that it would be a good idea to get that legal document in place, I have great news for you! Last week I received an email from Southwest Initiative Foundation (SWIF) about a new partnership they have formed with FreeWill, an online tool to write a legal will at no personal cost. SWIF is an independent community foundation whose mission is connecting people, investing in ideas, and building communities. They support many initiatives in our region, in fact, my position at Prairie Five is funded in part with a grant from SWIF.

Front (L-R): Tate Ricke, Brandon Mulligan, Haeden Honzay, Alexis Williamson, Yazmin Martinez. Back (L-R): Kelin Reyes Barrientos, Angel Mejia, Miles Norman, Sophie Sonstegard, Bode Knoop, Villa Mae Stevenson. Photo Submitted

In my last article, I touched briefly on holding family meetings. As I mentioned, I often encourage caregivers to hold a family meeting to increase communication and to let their families help them bridge gaps and find solutions. Yet, as my last article explained, sometimes the caregiver themselves are not able to see that there are needs and concerns. Sometimes family members, neighbors, friends, etc. of the caregivers need to initiate that action.

Matt VanGorp and Nolan Jasperson were awarded Montevideo 2021 Building Awards program certificate for Best Residential Renovation. Photo by Jessica Stolen-Jacobson Jeff and Joan Drexler were awarded for Best New Residential Development in 2021 by the Montevideo City Council.

When it comes to action and change, people are generally in one of two corners; 1. Things are moving too slow or 2. Things are moving too fast. Why is that? I don’t have the answer to that question, however I would offer up that sometimes both are right and sometimes both are wrong. Moving too fast without a plan can be reckless and create bigger issues than what the change was intended to fix. On the other hand, moving too slowly simply to move slowly can contribute to complacency and “that’s the way it’s always been” thinking. At Montevideo Public Schools we don’t want to fall into either of these categories, therefore we have and continue to examine ourselves and our practices in order to determine if what we are doing are getting the right results in the areas most important for the education of our students and to meet the expectations of our community.

When Sarah Vonderharr, of Montevideo, was in grad school, she was introduced to some strategies to promote nurturing environments in the classroom. It was those teachings that inspired her to apply the lessons to her work now in substance use prevention as a Prevention Specialist for PACT for Families in Yellow Medicine County. The organization works on the prevention of substance use in youth within the counties of Renville, Kandiyohi, and Yellow Medicine County under a Partnership for Success Grant.

Montevideo Middle School Students of the Month are (Front Row, L-R): Payton Howell, Addison Reszel, Guillermo Soto, Carlos Villatoro Avelar. (Back Row L-R): Tori Johnson, Kyla Moravetz, Lillianna Longhenry, Oliver Enevoldsen, Link Fromm. Not Pictured: Brittney Quintanilla and Natalie Koopmeiners. Photo Submitted