Community Connection Column December 8, 2022

Stuff to do…

On Saturday, join the OPS Student Council to decorate cookies at Growing Small Towns! The event starts at 6 pm and all you have to do is show up with your Christmas spirit, and you can even bring questionable cookie decorating skills; no judgment here…just Christmas cheer!

Things to celebrate…

There are many young people choosing to return to our area and start businesses—Addison Magill, Haley Moen (Visto), Dalton Scheuring, Marc Seyer, and Chris Schmit, to name a few. Did you know that a common factor among them is that they took classes at SRCTC? It’s fun to notice trends when they emerge and this one is undeniable. We encourage you to do two things with this: 1. If you run into one of these young entrepreneurs, give them a high-five. They are what Oakes needs and every other community is scratching their heads trying to figure out how to get their young adults to return and ours are choosing to! 2. If you run into a teacher or administrator from SRCTC, do the same. This school clearly is providing our students with a different learning opportunity and if the result is our community gaining new business owners, wow, do we owe them our gratitude!

News to know…

This past week, the City Council held a special meeting regarding the stoplight in Oakes. They clarified the communication that had led to this difficult situation where the state DOT is saying the light needs to be removed. Representatives Jim Grueneich and Mike Brandenburg were both present and believe they’ll be able to create a way forward where Oakes can keep its stoplight. For now, the Council has responded to the state saying they do not want the light removed and the legislative session begins in about 45 days. There are many other details but the big takeaway is that only legislative action can solve this for us. If the light does come out, there will be other measures put in place to try to slow traffic down, which is a result no one wants, including the entire City Council. 

Ideas to spread…

When it comes to trying something new to tackle a problem or challenge we’re facing, we tend to be pretty good at naming all the ways it could go wrong—all the ways it won’t work. What if, instead, we named all the ways it could go right? There will always be obstacles to face when implementing something new and no matter how smart you are upfront, there will always be risks involved. The other question that rarely gets asked in the moment of debating an idea is this: what happens if we do nothing? There is often a huge cost down the road to doing nothing. Put another way, whatever you aren’t changing, you’re choosing. Yep. Read that one again and let it sink in. 

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