New Richmond School Board approves SOAR summer staff funding

At their meeting Monday, July 15, New Richmond School Board members approved two stipends: one for $4,000, payable to Tara Van Eperen-Waldorf, Assistant SOAR Farm Manager — and another for $5,000, which was payable to Rachel Sauvola, SOAR Farm Manager.

The Students' Opportunities with Agricultural Resources (SOAR) educational center is a working school farm located on County Road CC near the New Richmond Regional Airport.

The farm is the incarnation of Agricultural Science teacher Sauvola’s idea to create a hands-on learning experience for students pursuing agriculture related careers that incorporates educational programing related to raising and caring for livestock and crop production and the logistics and finances of running a farm.

During the school year, high school students run the farm under Sauvola’s direction.

The farm produces meat and vegetables used by the district's nutrition department in its school meal program.

The stipends are being viewed as a bridge measure — part of the district’s effort to develop a long-term sustainability plan for the farm. The plan is also expected to detail how academic education including science are specifically woven into the student’s farming experience.  

During the summer when student help is in short supply, Van Eperen-Waldorf focuses primarily on organizing and managing summer volunteers including:  

• Training & supervising volunteers completing chores at the farm. 

• Planning short and long term work goals for volunteers to complete. 

• Communicating with volunteers verbally and in writing regarding expectations, schedules, etc. 

• Working with the SOAR Farm Manager (Rachel Sauvola) to set goals for staffing and work completion. 

• Assisting In securing community volunteers and planning the calendar work weeks ensuring there is leadership for each shift so that safety and well-being is at the forefront of the experiences. When volunteers are not available or are unable to complete a task, complete necessary farm chores. 

• Establishing and maintaining a level of expectations and communications that ensures the safety and overall well-being of the animals and volunteers at the farm. 

• Ensuring that resources are available and maintained to ensure the safety and overall well-being of the animals and volunteers at the farm.

Board member Dr. Neal Melby has been involved in the initial discussions about the farm’s future.

“This is an immediate need. Tara’s been working there without pay. She gets there early in the morning. In the afternoon they have chores to do. Any of you who have worked on a farm, you know that they have to be taken care of. You can't always depend on the volunteers. You’ve got to have someone who is going to be responsible and Tara certainly has been that person,” Melby said.

In addition to her responsibilities as a teacher at the high school, Sauvola is a nationally recognized educator and speaker who periodically is asked to travel and share the SOAR story. And as the Farm Manager she is also responsible for all of the summer duties listed for the Assistant Farm Manager. In addition she:

• Provides tours to community members, individuals, organizations and businesses from near and far. 

• Secures community volunteers and plans the calendar work weeks ensuring there is leadership for each shift so that safety and well-being is at the forefront of the experiences. 

• Acquires all supplies needed for community members and volunteers to do the necessary gardening and animal related tasks. 

• Secures funds - donations and grants at this time - to appropriately budget for expenses. 

• Delivers presentations to local community groups to publicize the SOAR Center Plan and executes community events for SOAR Center experiences. 

• Coordinates with all community members and businesses who donate to, sell to or buy from the SOAR Center. These include products and/or services. 

• Ensures that large projects that require many community volunteers are planned and executed safely and with all the necessary materials to get the job done.

Board member Greg Gartner recognized the need to provide both a long and short-term solution. 

“This is what I was hoping we’d come up with, something like this knowing that a long-term plan has to be figured out, but to do something now to compensate them. I think this is a good bridge until we can come up with a final solution,” Gartner said.