In case you’re living under a rock, the 10th Annual Winter Walk is this Thursday. See the Chamber’s Winter Walk page for the entire schedule. But it seems to be…
Locally Grown (LoGro) Northfield Posts
Matt Hart, a student in Doug McGill’s journalism class at Carleton College, has written a piece titled Carrying a Torch for Kids Who Dream of College (PDF – full text below).
Carrying a Torch for Kids Who Dream of College
By Matt Hart
In 2001, two third-grade girls from Northfield had a dream.
They would go to college together and be roommates. There was only one problem: Stephanie was a blond-haired, blue-eyed Midwesterner, and Alejandra was Hispanic. Back in 2001, only 18% of Northfield’s Latino population passed the Minnesota Basic Skills Test (BST), a requirement to graduate from high school.
The odds of the girls’ dream being realized looked grim.
That’s not the case anymore though, thanks to the efforts of TORCH, a nonprofit program designed to improve the high school graduation and college enrollment rates of Latino, ESL, and any other would-be first-generation college students in Northfield.
The name stands for “Tacking Obstacles and Raising College Hopes.”
“Students see kids that look like them and are like them making it,” said Beth Berry, coordinator of TORCH at Northfield High School and one of the program’s founders. “And they say, ‘I know her, I know her.’”
As most LoGro readers probably know, the new Comprehensive Plan is finally done and was adopted by the City Council last month. The Land Development Code Advisory Group is now…
LoGroNo co-host Ross Currier has a new band. The New Moon Trio performed at the Contented Cow on Friday night. L to R in photo: Bass – Ross Currier; guitar…
Evidently with the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, no Friday Memo was published last week by City Hall/Joel Walinski. I got a City Commons monthly newsletter in the mail recently but I…
The Northfield High School Raiders lost to Mankato West Scarlets in yesterday’s 4A Prep Bowl XXVII championship game at the Metrodome, 33-14. Northfield News: Northfield loses to Mankato West…
Robbie and I are heading to the Metrodome for today’s Prep Bowl game between the Northfield Raiders and Mankato West at 3 pm. You can follow my updates via Twitter:…
Mackenzie Zimmer, a student in Doug McGill’s journalism class at Carleton College, has written a piece titled A Small Town with Big Ideas on Citizen Journalism (PDF – full text below).
A Small Town with Big Ideas on Citizen Journalism
By Mackenzie Zimmer
On any given day at the Goodbye Blue Monday coffee shop in downtown Northfield, you will see several people scanning their computers instead of perusing a newspaper, as they nurse their morning coff ees.
The reason is that Northfield has two citizen journalism blogs, LocallyGrownNorthfield.org and Northfield.org, that are highly popular morning reads in town. With a total population of only 17,150, Northfield has two citizen journalism web sites covering local news, events and activities — Locally Grown, which attracts nearly 7,000 visitors a month, and Northfield.org, with a monthly readership of about 9,400.
Unlike their newspaper counterpart, the Northfield News, these websites provide citizens with more than just breaking news and a calendar of events. They also serve as important social and community hubs by providing a forum for civic discussion and a database of comments on articles from readers. They even showcase other local citizen blogs.