Rita Hillmann Olson was endorsed by the Republican party last week as their candidate for the state House of Representatives seat in District 58A.
In a statement issued by her campaign, announcing her candidacy on Wednesday, she said she is running for office because she is concerned about “the state’s direction and the current representation of our district.”
“In less than two years,” she said in the statement, “the Democrat trifecta has spent the surplus, increased taxes by $10 billion, and put our state on the path to a deficit.”
Hillmann Olson said as a member of the House, she would pursue policies that make life more affordable, loosen restrictions and regulations on business, reduce spending, work for a “top tier” education system, and “protect the rights of parents.” She promised to listen to the concerns of her constituents, ask questions, gather facts and “seek solutions that lift everyone.”
Hillmann Olson is a registered accountant practitioner, entrepreneur and farmer who lives in New Prague. She and her husband Kevin have three grown children and two grandchildren. She has been active with the Rice County Republican Party for several years and is a past president of the Southwest Conservative Republican Women.
She will challenge incumbent Representative Kristi Pursell (D-Northfield) who announced her own candidacy for re-election in December.
“Our district has not been well-served,” Hillmann Olson said in her statement. “We can do better. We need to restore balance in St. Paul so that we are all represented.”
District 58A covers Northfield, Dundas, Lonsdale, Webster, and part of New Prague. Election Day is November 5th.
Historical Society is reviving youth programs
The Northfield Historical Society is currently featuring an exhibit about Maggie Lee, the longtime editor of the Northfield News who broke many barriers as a female journalist in the mid-20th Century. Historical Society Executive Director Sean Allen said the exhibit is an example of the effort the organization is making to feature aspects of Northfield’s history that are not connected to the James/Younger Gang bank raid.
Allen said the idea is something the Historical Society has wrestled with for quite a while. Certainly, the bank raid is the most famous event in Northfield’s history, and there is quite a bit of interest in the story both inside and outside of Northfield. But there is also much more to Northfield’s history than seven minutes in 1876.
“Do we focus just on the Bank raid of1876? Is that the only day that mattered in Northfield? I don’t think so. And I think successive Executive Directors have felt the same. So, we’re really trying to make an effort to make the history of Northfield more front and center, more relevant to people today, more relevant to young people.”
Appealing to young people is a very important aspect of the direction Allen is taking the organization. For several years, Earl Weinmann, a former Northfield history teacher, organized several youth-oriented programs with the Historical Society. After Weinmann retired and moved away, those programs fell by the wayside, but Allen said they are being reinstated. Weinmann has returned to Northfield, and with his help programs like the Student Tour Guides are back up and running.
“This summer, we’ll have about 20 students – 8th, 9th, 10th graders – that will be trained to be tour guides. So, if you go to the Historical Society Museum this summer, you’ll get a tour from a young person who will do a fantastic job. And he vets those kids and makes him do sample tours for all of us. And it’s just a phenomenal program.”
Another program being redeveloped will allow middle schoolers working in the Historical Society archives alongside the curator, doing the things that curators and collection managers do. Allen said programs like that get kids hooked on history, and they find that those students come back to the historical Society after they graduate from high school to offer more help.
Allen, who is in his second full year as the NHS Executive Director, is making a concerted effort to attract a new generation of Historical Society patrons. Another program he has helped launch is the Culture Crew, a collaboration with the Northfield Arts Guild and the Northfield Public Library. The group has instituted a movie night at the Grand Event Center on the second Thursday of the month, and coming in April they will be showing the classic comedy The Princess Bride.
Allen said they continue to work on interesting and unique exhibits as well. When the Maggie Lee exhibit closes, he said, the next one will focus on the history of pizza in Northfield.
Hillmann believes in the Northfield music tradition
March is National Music in Schools Month, a time when every school district around the country has an opportunity to show how important music education is for young students’ academic experience.
According to the website of the National Association for Music Education, the purpose of Music in Schools Month is to raise awareness of the importance of music education for all children, and to remind people that school is where all children should have access to music. It is an opportunity for music teachers to bring their music programs to the attention of their school and their community to display the value that school music brings to students of all ages.
Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said there have been All-District Band and Orchestra concerts this month, as well as the bi-annual Rock & Roll Revival extravaganza, which involved more than 150 students this year. With the amount of musical talent in all of Northfield, he said, it should come as no surprise that so many young people want to participate in the program. The heritage and the DNA in Northfield for the love of music is what fuels Rock & Roll Revival, and all of the other exceptional Northfield music programs. And, he said, those programs are fundamental pieces of an all-around education.
“Sometimes I think we think of things like music and the arts as these extra components; something beyond what is core to a student’s school or scholastic experience. And the truth is they are core to the learning experience. And while we certainly focus on the hardcore academic things, the fact is that music and the arts are as central to a student’s learning experience as anything else.”
Hillmann said that while music is singled out in March, the emphasis on music education is present in Northfield schools every day.
KYMN News
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
