Friday, the last day of the seminar, started off back on the University of Minnesota, Crookston campus in Bede ballroom. We started off talking about different conflicts with the people at our table and all had great discussions.
At 8:30 a.m. our classmate, Mark, introduced our panel that we would be meeting with today which included, Joan Lee, Owner of Mark & Joan Dairy, a Polk County Commissioner, and a MARL class VII alumna. The second panelist was Bruce Cox, Clearwater County Land Commissioner and MARL class II alumnus. Third we had Peter Imle who is the co-owner of Pine Lake Wild Rice, and a MARL class IV alumnus, and lastly we had Cam Fanfulik who is the executive director for Northwest Regional Development Commission and a MARL class IV alumnus.
Our classmate, Jasmine, facilitated the panel discussion and it was a great learning experience for all. We talked about subjects such as, conflict, water issues, working with people that have opposite views than you, how to choose your battles, values, and even more conflict.
We then broke into tables of seven or eight and got to meet one on one with the panelists. There, we were able to even ask more questions and gained very valuable knowledge. We each got to meet with two panelists and I found this very useful and rewarding. After our meetings, each group shared two of the most important things they took away from meeting with the panelists. I found that everyone was impressed with what they learned and gained even more knowledge about conflict and some life lessons.
After that we were ready for our wrap up, I started it with my biggest take always, and it seemed as though the tours from Thursday were a big hit! We concluded our fifth seminar and normally would have all been on our way home, however, our classmate, Chris, was nice enough to offer to treat us to Happy Joes Pizza for lunch. I thought it was a great close to a great session and I think I can speak for everyone when I say we are excited to see each other again in June!
Submitted by Sierra Kanten
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