Aug 16, 2017 | Insights, Speeches
First – thank you Senator Miller and Representative Pelowski for your unwavering support for the Education Village! Our vision is nothing less than to prepare the finest teachers and for Winona to be a Mecca for excellence in education. Already we are referring to...
Aug 15, 2016 | Insights, Speeches
1. The Big Story We will be the place that keeps faith with the biggest story, abides the wisdom of that story, and speaks the truth. You are the clergy of this secular spirit. You are its evangelists. If our thoughts and passions and beliefs and actions align,...
Aug 17, 2015 | Insights, Speeches
1. Introduction This lighthouse shines with a common spirit born of our nature, a spirit of learning, a spirit of community, a spirit of sustainability, a spirit of diversity, a spirit of the future, a spirit of Winona, a spirit undaunted, a spirit rising up in...
Aug 18, 2014 | Insights, Speeches
1. Poor Yorick! From afar they have seen us – they see our flame through the clear prairie air, our fiery sun rising with the dawn, a lighthouse on this island, seen from every hill and valley, seen from the waters of the river, seen from the snow on the bluffs. How...
Aug 19, 2013 | Insights, Speeches
1. Prometheus The flame has burned for 154 years and the flame burns still. A few weeks ago my wife Kelley and our daughter Katie and I were in New York to see the premiere of a play written by my friend Andy, whom you might have met at the inauguration. Katie wanted...
Apr 19, 2013 | Insights, Speeches
I. April Showers Knowledge is a river, powerful, ageless, and new. We’re a community of learners and, like a great river, we improve our world. This spring really made that river burgeon! In a literal sense, we’ve had endless rain, endless snow, and many a flood...
