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SMSU GOLD College kick-off March 19

Schools

The spring 2025 kick-off for GOLD College will be today in the Upper Conference Center from 1:30-4 p.m. at Southwest Minnesota State University. The kick-off event will allow attendees to hear directly from course professors, register for classes, and meet fellow GOLD College participants. Study groups are scheduled to run from March 24-May 2 with coursework delivered in-person, via Zoom, and a hybrid format that allows students to choose in-person or Zoom. Participants can choose 1-2 classes for $75 or to 3-4 classes for $110. Classes offered “In Person Only” are listed as ...

SMSU Briefs for March 18

Schools

SMSU Jazz Ensemble to present concerts in Marshall and Luverne with guest Kate Skinner The SMSU Jazz Ensemble will be hosting Kate Skinner, guest jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and educator on Monday, March 24-Tuesday, March 25. The ensemble will perform two concerts with Skinner, the first on Monday, March 24, at Luverne High School at 7:30 p.m. The concert will also feature the Luverne High School Jazz Band. The second concert will be on Tuesday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the SMSU Fine Arts Theatre. This concert will also feature the Lakeview High School and Marshall High ...

70 years together

Engagements, Weddings, Anniversaries

IVANHOE — Elmer and Twila Koopman said it was a love of dancing that first helped bring them together. But in the more than 70 years since they first met, they’ve also run a dairy farm near Ivanhoe, raised a family and a lot more. “We’ve been very lucky,” Twila Koopman said. The ...

Faith Briefs for March 14

Faith

St. Michael’s to have fundraiser breakfast St. Michael’s in Milroy will be hosting a French toast breakfast on Sunday, March 30, to help raise funds for building stoves in Guatemala. They will be serving French toast, sausages and fruit from 9:30-11 a.m. Free will offering. If unable to attend and you wish to give a donation, please send to Church of St. Michael, 200 Euclid Ave., Milroy MN 56263. Take-outs are available. Call 507-828-2171 or 507-336-2385.

Bottom line: Our relationships are our one true currency

Faith

Becoming intimate friends with a man and his family during a short, two-hour concert seems crazy, right? The kind of friends who regularly check in, not only on Facebook but through periodic text messages too. A quick note of encouragement or to share a lament. A pick-me-up for folks who could use a little sunshine. In this fleeting world, that kind of thing only happens in the movies, right? Nah, it really can happen at an outdoor amphitheater concert on a beautiful May evening in northern Minnesota. Because that night, I learned that sometimes friendships forge in a flash, and ...

Lent offers us a chance to refocus on forgiveness, giving and sacrifice

Faith

Just as the world as we know it seems to be burning down around us, we are called to pause for these next several weeks in reflection and preparation of Easter, for Christ’s resurrection. Could we say the pinnacle of our faith calendar? Already expected to be a somber time in which Christians take time to reflect on the events that led up to Jesus’ death, ask for forgiveness, practice self-control, be reminded of our mortality, imitate Christ’s sacrifices through our own and also to give alms, this year Lent is an excellent opportunity for us also to put the larger happenings in ...