Lehmann and Nordlund Receive the Thomomys Talpoides Award
Two area high school students have been selected to receive the Thomomys Talpoides Award, recognizing outstanding high school students who lead, organize, and are positively involved in the areas of agriculture and natural resources. This year’s winners, Darin Lehmann, a sophomore from Fertile-Beltrami High School, and Michael Nordlund, a senior from Clearbrook-Gonvick High School, were chosen from nominees in eleven counties.
The new award is a collaboration between the Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) and U of M Extension Services in eleven northwestern Minnesota counties.
Thomomys talpoides is the Latin name for the northern pocket gopher, a small mammal indigenous to northwest Minnesota and North Dakota. The animal weighs less than one-quarter pound, is powerful for its size, and is found from cultivated meadows to prairie meadows. Like the award’s namesake, the Thomomys Talpoides Award recipient is hardworking and determined, someone who is willing to roll up their sleeves, dig in, and get the job done.
Selection of award recipients was based on Extension Educators’ nomination essays and an application. “Nominated students were those who worked their tails off, so to speak,” says Michelle Christopherson, Program Associate for UMC’s Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources. Christopherson says nominees have a strong work ethic and have shown commitment to community involvement—the energetic “B” student as much as the gifted “A” student.
Lehmann is a sophomore at Fertile-Beltrami High School. He has been a very active member of the 4-H youth development program in Polk County and the Fertile 4-H Club for several years. He has served as president of his local 4-H Club, and also serves as a Polk County 4-H ambassador, which involves serving in planning, organizational, and leadership roles with county level 4-H activities and events. He is a youth member of the Polk County Fair Board and is very active with this event.
Lehmann is especially interested in the dairy enterprise. He is involved in many of the day to day management decisions of his family’s dairy herd. He shows cattle in 4-H and FFA, he has been involved in the plant and soil science and agronomy projects, and he has shown dairy at the state fair for the last three years.
Mike Nordlund, a senior at Clearbrook-Gonvick High School, has been the herdsman for Clearwater County 4-H at the Minnesota State Fair for the past four years. “He exemplifies leadership in his 4-H club, Eddy Energetics,” says Clearwater County Extension Educator Al Rassmussen. He has been one of the captains of the softball team and helped his team win several championships. He enthusiastically serves as an 4-H ambassador in the county and helps to plan programs. “The versatility Mike shows in his approach to life was demonstrated last Summer when he was the premier livestock showman at the Clearwater County Fair. He had to demonstrate how to handle and show animals in six species,” says Rassmussen.
Posted 05/17/2001
Contact: Andrew Svec,
218-281-8435