Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

To the developers of the Ramsey School Apartments.

Hats off to Fred and Leah Ridler, who led the renovation of the former Ramsey School into a dozen market-rate apartments.

The apartments recently opened to tenants.

The couple purchased the building off of Fourth Street in 2017 and little by little cleaned up the building and then transformed it from the shell of a school it once was into what are now beautiful apartments.

The Ridlers put a lot of thought into their project and tried to incorporate what they would want if they were renovating the building for their own home.

They saved some of the historical nature of the building in the hallways while transforming all of the living space in the apartments

Thank you for saving this building and giving it new life. Our community is excited to see it put back to good use.

To Alden-Conger’s David Bosma.

Congratulations to Alden-Conger Public School teacher David Bosma, who was named 2023 Teacher of the Year for the district.

Bosma has been with the Alden-Conger district as a teacher for 24 years and before that spent an additional four years at the Southland School District.

Besides teaching, he worked with the school’s First Robotics team, participated in supermileage and helped with science fairs.

He was recognized for his dedication to students and to the school.

Part of Bosma’s nomination letter stated,”He is hands-on when he teaches us and makes us do it ourselves. He makes the learning experience very fun and enjoyable. He is also very funny and likes to joke around. He helps you when you need help.”

Congratulations on the award, and we thank him for the positive impact he has had on many.

To area businesses named as Best Places to Work in Southeast Minnesota.

Congratulations to the local businesses that were named Best Places to Work in Southeast Minnesota by Workforce Development Inc.

The recognition is given out every year to highlight some of the best employers in the local area and to provide information to companies about the practices they use to attract and retain employees.

It particularly looks at things such as turnover, rate of growth, promotion rates, employee evaluations and feedback, percentage of employee injured, diversity of management, benefits offered, training expenditures, paid days off and increase in pay.

Recognized from the area were Arcadian Bank; Peterson, Kolker, Haedt & Benda, Ltd.; and Albert Lea Seed House.

Kudos for a job well done.