Fall/Winter2023
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ByJenniferBoysen APEF executive director
AHS alum: Bright future for district
Kris Heichel (Class of 1988), with Fairway Mortgage, speaks Oct. 31 about personal and professional challenges to Austin High and Pacelli students in the Mower County CEO program. Heichel is one of many local business leaders who visit with the CEO students during the program. For more, go online to: www.mowercountyceo.com
Tentative plans are in place for an AHS reunion on Sept. 19-21, 2024, for the Classes of 1957, ’58 and ’59 in Austin. More classes might be involved. For more information, contact Don Austin (AHS Class of 1957) via email at: 57packer@gmail.com
Austin officer Jim Lunt greets students at Sumner Elementary School earlier this year.
Starting in 1950, Rosalie Seltz taught English and Journalism at Austin High School until 1993, when she retired. She served as the faculty advisor for the Austin High School newspaper, The Sentinel, and the Austinian yearbook for most of her career.
As a lifetime educator, Seltz inspired generations of students to set high standards and develop strong communication skills.
For this and her numerous volunteering efforts in the Austin community, Seltz was honored in July as one of Austin’s “Pillars of the City.” A plaque in her honor will be placed with other “Pillars” on the city’s flood-protection wall along Austin Mill Pond.
Seltz is well known for her devotion to correct grammar and good communication skills. Her teaching philosophy followed a simple principle that “students won’t always remember what you said but they will remember how they felt.”
In 1989, Seltz received the lifetime achievement award from the Minnesota High School Press Association.
Seltz also was a long-time board member of the AHS Alumni & Friends and contributor to the Post-Sentinel newsletter.
Annabell Benson’s entire teaching career was in Minnesota public education.
She began in Williams before teaching in Litchfield and Hutchinson. Benson finished her teaching career at Austin’s Neveln Elementary School.
Benson’s lifelong passion was educating children, and she had a passion for mentoring new teachers.
In 2021, Benson passed away and left a portion of her estate to the Austin Public Education Foundation. As a result of this gift, APEF created the Annabell Mae Benson Grant for New Teachers.
For the second year in a row, APEF funded grants for new teachers in Austin Public Schools.
Under the grant, teachers new to the Austin district and new to the teaching profession are awarded $400, and teachers new to Austin Public Schools but have taught elsewhere are awarded $200.
With the grant, APEF aims to support new teachers in creating a welcoming classroom environment and focusing on student learning.
APEF recognizes that teachers often spend their own money to buy items for their classrooms, and the foundation wants to help support teachers who are starting in the district defray some of those costs.
Benson left behind a legacy of mentorship for students and teachers. Her gift will ensure that her legacy lives on for years to come.
For more, visit the Austin Public Education Foundation Alumni webpage at: apefoundationahsalumni.wordpress.com
Bell teaches AHS students in the 1940s .
Austin Public Education Foundation
A local group is exploring the idea of replacing Austin’s downtown dam on the Cedar River State Water Trail with five, structural drops for a whitewater park.
A feasibility study by a Colorado firm that builds whitewater courses nationally showed the project is viable and could cost about $10 million.
Austin Whitewater on the Cedar released the study’s findings in August.
Under the proposal, the Cedar River at
Austin Mill Pond – created by the dam – would retain the same surface-water elevation, which was a priority of the committee. Public access would be improved significantly on both shorelines for fishing, relaxing and more. Fish ladders would be built on the side of each drop feature to allow migration.
If built, as of now, Austin would have
Hormel Foods this fall approved an “historic,” new contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).
Featuring the largest wage increase in the company’s history, the four-year agreement also touched on increases in other areas as well as benefits for Hormel employees in Minnesota, Georgia, Wisconsin and Iowa. Employees under the contract will see wage increases of $3 to $6 an hour.
Hormel Foods’ called the contract an investment.
“We are proud to continuously invest in our people in recognition of the work they do to put the safe, quality food that consumers trust and need on tables across the globe,” according to a company statement.
This all came after came nearly a month after union workers turned down an offer by the company.
the first whitewater course in Minnesota and would be the closet attraction of this kind to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
“Many people are excited about the idea of paddling through whitewater downtown but there are many more positives that absolutely will improve quality of life, attract more visitors and spur redevelopment,” said Nate Smit, the whitewater group leader.
This is a conceptual design for a proposed whitewater park on the Cedar River State Water Trail in downtown Austin. Left side is north; right is south.
, ’47, died Sept. 6.
Jewell Weeks, ’51, died June 17.
