- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

(loon calling) (upbeat music) - "R- Town," the show about Rochester learns about the University of Minnesota's Rochester's new campus and climate plan.

And we catch up with one of the biggest design firms in town and a new initiative, they're hosting in a historic downtown building.

We also sit down with the leaders of the Youth Enrichment League, and visit a one-of-a-kind pet resort.

All that, so much more, coming up next on "R-Town," the show about Rochester.

(lively music) - [Announcer] Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota..."R-Town."

(lively music) - HGA, is one of the cities largest design firms, and today we're joined by Marissa Guggisberg, here to tell us more about their work in our growing city, and their new Design Acceleration Lab.

Welcome to "R-Town," Marissa.

- Thank you, Nicole.

It's a pleasure being here.

- Can you tell us a little bit about what the Design Acceleration Lab is?

- Oh sure, I hope everybody has heard about it thus far, but I bet that's not the case.

So, it's great to have the opportunity here to speak about it.

So the whole root of the Design Acceleration Lab is innovation.

So as designers, we recognized that there's limited opportunities for our clients and our community to really understand and experience what we do as far as design.

So this is an opportunity, it's kind of an incubation space of sorts.

So, we have different vendors that we've partnered with to be able to bring in their products, showcase them, let their clientele and our clientele in the community at large kind of experience these different products.

We have virtual reality in there.

It's a really open, and ever-changing space that's being used for growth and understanding of design.

- Awesome.

I know design can seem like this really, what a big term sometimes.

- [Marissa] Yes!

- And then also, people have different ideas on what design might actually mean.

- [Marissa] Yes.

- So it sounds like this space will also be an opportunity for people to be educated and to have- - Yes, that is our hope.

Yeah, I want people to; we, all of HGA wants the space to be used as an education space for people who are curious about different innovative up-and-coming design features.

So like modular wall is currently in there from (indistinct) So you can actually see that's of how a modular head wall in a patient room might work.

So there's a bit of curiosity.

Curiosity is one of our values.

So, it's all about asking questions and learning about all things.

Another thing that we're doing is letting high schoolers and middle schoolers come in and experience what does it mean to be an engineer or an architect, or an anthropologist.

Kind of learning about research and design.

- Awesome.

You mentioned a little bit about sort of, the opportunities, the VR experience.

Can you tell us just a little bit about the physical layout and the opportunities that are gonna be a part of that?

- Yeah, sure.

- Or, are a part of that.

- Yeah, for sure.

So it's located, if you're not familiar, it's in the Massey Building, on the first level.

So if you're not familiar with that intersection, it's First Avenue and Second Street, kind of on the southwest corner.

And then, there's beautiful windows in there.

Because it was once a retail space, a bridal shop.

So, there's a lot of history in the building.

But it's awesome to be able to showcase and feel more activated.

There's not a lot of opportunity in downtown Rochester to actually get a glimpse into some of the businesses.

And so, this is just a vibrant corner that really needed to be boosted with this kind of new energy and curiosity, spark that curiosity, so.

- Super exciting.

- Yeah.

- HGA has been serving Rochester for over 30 years.

- [Marissa] Yes, yes.

- [Nicole] Can you tell us a little bit about the work of HGA and how design is actually so important to our everyday lives?

- Oh yeah, I think it's great for people to even think about that just for a moment.

Everything's designed in some way, right?

The cellphone you use, the paper you're using, everything has been designed.

So being a designer, it's a huge opportunity to have influence on that, and to really listen to people think about how we can improve function, how we can make people feel more equitable.

Justice, all of that comes into play on the design side of things.

So as the community is growing with Unbound Destination Medical Center, and all of the fun things, the beautiful things.

We just wanna make sure the community knows that we are here, and wanna have these conversations, and this interaction innovation to let the city know that everyone should have a spot in that.

And you don't need to be a designer to be part of that.

So, everybody is welcomed.

Come on in!

- Excellent.

And that means, as we're closing up here, how can community members learn more about HGA and the Design Acceleration Lab?

- Yeah, so if you go to hga.com, it's a pretty simple website.

There's a landing page on there for Rochester's office.

And then, we're also working on one specifically for the Design Acceleration Lab.

- Excellent.

Well, thank you so much for joining us, Marissa.

- Yeah thank you, Nicole.

(lively music) (gentle piano music) - So Saturday was kind of the culmination of a week-long time where people were invited to come help paint our John Marshall murals.

So all week long students and staff were painting during the school day.

But Saturday was really an opportunity for the larger community to come participate.

So at the event there was alumni, there were students, there were families, there were neighbors.

There were community members.

So it really was an opportunity for people who maybe wouldn't always have a chance to interface and connect, to do so in a really positive and fun way.

The actual mural project has been for about a year.

But we actually started laying some foundation before that with the JM Identity Project.

So that kind of laid some foundation to get students and staff starting to think about individual identity.

And then a year ago, we really entered into collaboration with Greta McClain from Good Space Murals, who was our partnering organization to do this mural.

She came here for a week-long residency in January.

Where she met with hundreds of different JM stakeholders, and really just listened and talked, and got ideas about what do we value?

What most represents us?

(classical piano music) And so, parents really wanted to focus on like how is JM preparing their child for the future?

Students were really focused on the pride that they had, and the diversity of their school.

And things that they loved to participate in.

Alumni really wanted some historical aspects.

So the mural itself will be about 2,000 square feet.

And then, 300 square feet of mosaics.

And it's gonna be found in three different exterior entrances to our building.

It's massive.

We were painting panels.

And each one of those panels is 25 square feet.

And there's 70 of those.

And then, some of the mosaic stars are probably like eight feet tall.

Some of them are really large.

(classical piano music) There's a few different goals.

And the goals have really come around from data that we have collected as a school.

So one of those pieces is really how do we increase sense of belonging to our school, and to one another?

I don't think it's unique to John Marshall, that there's a lower sense of belonging, maybe as a result of COVID, or other things.

So one was to really increase sense of connectedness.

A second big goal was how do we connect to our greater community.

Because our schools really need our great community in order to be as strong as possible.

And John Marshall has been in our community since 1958.

So there's a lot of alumni.

There's alumni who have children who go here, who are grandchildren that go here.

So we want to like nurture the connections, the historical connections that we have.

And another thing, I think, is just that we really want the outside to reflect who we are.

What we are most proud of?

What do we want the community to know about JM?

Because sometimes schools can be misconstrued, I think, out in the community.

JM has definitely had that happen.

Different people might share different things.

I think people think we have a bunch of fights here.

That isn't true.

I think people think we don't perform as well at different activities, or events.

Which really isn't true.

Like we have a nationally-recognized speech and debate team, in the top 100 in the nation.

We're super-proud of that.

(gentle classical piano music) I think people make judgements about us, because we have a more diverse school than some other schools.

We have some economic challenges that our schools might not experience as much.

So people assume things about our students, they assume things about our families.

And usually those assumptions are not true.

Those of us that are in this school know how vibrant it is.

But when you show up on the outside of the school, you don't always really know what you have in the inside.

(gentle piano music) - [Announcer] For more information about this story, and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter @KSMQ #RTown.

Or ksmq.org/rtown (upbeat music) (lively music) - Hi, I'm Danielle Teal with "R-Town Spotlight," where we highlight happenings, organizations, and businesses across Rochester.

Really, really focusing on where can people get involved.

And today, I have two amazing guests with me.

Kamau and Mateo Wilkins, welcome.

- Thank you.

- And your organization is Youth Enrichment League.

Can you share a little bit more about that?

- So Youth Enrichment League is, we have a large territory.

It covers all the way from Mankadu, over to Winona, Minnesota.

All the way down to the Iowa border, and up to Northfield.

So we have classes that run after afterschool programming.

And summer camps, which is right around the corner.

We have about 160 summer camps every year.

About 4,000 kids come.

These afterschool programs are built out for kids that wanna do STEM, sports.

Generally the kind of like stuff like kindergartners through six graders would want to do.

And then, we also have a fencing program that goes to the varsity level.

We have junior Olympians, we've had six of them.

- Let's talk about that a little bit more.

Because Mateo does something that is really cool, and has been recognized for that effort.

And that's what I love about Youth Enrichment League, is that there are unique offerings.

Can you share a little bit more about the outcomes of that?

- Yeah I mean, I don't know if you wanna talk about your fencing journey.

But, fencing is one of our coolest programs for sure.

- Yeah, I'm a little biased saying that fencing is probably one of our best programs.

But, I've been fencing with YEL since probably around first, second grade, and I've stayed with it all the way through.

And it's a really connecting program, I've made a lot of friends, life-long friends, teammates.

And it's been really successful the past few years.

Hopefully we can continue that, athletically.

- Yeah, I hear your little sister does it, as well too.

Which, I think it's so cool to see that all happening in the family.

You have some big news, too, don't you?

- Yeah, we're actually opening up a fencing studio.

So, we'll have a brick and mortar fencing studio, which I'm super-excited for, a home for our kids to call home, and kind of build the camaraderie that comes with a club membership.

And that will be open a lot more.

It'll mean more opportunities for practices, and more opportunities for kids to have connections.

Have more teammates, and more friends.

And, I'm super-excited for it, it's gonna be really cool.

- And connection is something that you and I have talked about before.

It's so key with this program.

What is the most meaningful aspect of that for you?

- I think that the reality is that a lot of programs that we offer, the chess, the STEM, the robotics, the coding.

A lot of kids don't have an opportunity to access those types of programs at an affordable rate.

Our classes are really affordable, and we're all over the place.

So places like Byron's, Stewartville, Chatfield, LaCrosse, even small communities have access to chess, they have access to robotics.

Being that it's an after-school program, a lot of times it kind of serves the purpose for parents where they need a little extra time off after they get off of work.

- Don't we all, right?

(laughing) - And so, they can come pick them up after the class.

We're giving them a different experience than they might have.

And a lot of kids, they're literally like, they wake up in the morning, and they might not wanna go to school, but they know it's Lego Day.

They know it's Robotics Day.

They know its Flag Football Day.

And it gives them a little more energy and fun in their day, and I think that's one of the most meaningful parts for me in doing the job, and training other mentors to be really good mentors to these kids.

That's the funnest, most fulfilling part for me.

- I think the funniest part for me, from being a student to also now teaching classes, and working now that I'm older, I think coming back and have reoccurring kids, and watching them grow and get better at the sport, or at the chess, or whatever it is that we're working on, and having kids come back and see them get older, like the kids that we have in club, like seeing pictures four years ago when they were 10, and now all of a sudden, they're taller than me.

I think watching these kids grow is probably one of my favorite parts.

- I love that.

Thank you so much for being here to day.

This is Danielle Teal, with "R-Town Spotlight."

(lively music) - Hello once again.

This is Michael Wojcik with your "R-Town" legislative rundown.

As we get closer to the end of session, we some some bills likely to pass.

And some items that are being put off to future years.

One item that a comment from the governor isn't going to happen this year, is that we're very unlikely to see any sort expansion of Minnesota Care in this term.

It's something that's likely to be a talking point well into the future.

But, we're not likely to see action this year.

And a topic that's become of more interest, and there were attempts to take control away from local municipalities was the regulation of ride share services like Uber and Lyft.

There was an attempt in the Senate to take those controls away from local governments.

But ultimately a pass, because it was deemed not to be related to the bill it was being introduced to.

However if Uber and Lyft really are making credible threats to leave the state, we expect to see some sort of of action potentially on that at the state level.

An interesting bill that is looking to pass, is a voting rights act.

And it does a couple of interesting things that would affect us here in Rochester.

First and foremost, it basically takes some of the civil rights language that the federal level that was struck down by the Supreme Court.

And puts it into state law.

One thing particularly of interest for Rochester is prison gerrymandering.

Because when you're counting the number of people in a district, the number of people who are incarcerated, are present contributed to that.

So that actually changes the relative size of the districts in the Rochester area, because of the federal medical center.

Another bill likely to pass would deal with disability.

Minimum wage, currently you can pay someone with a disability a lower minimum wage.

This would change it, so it would be the same as everyone else.

And finally, there is an attempt to allow local governments to use sales tax for certain projects without going to the legislature.

This has always been a sticking point for local governments.

In this case, certain things like convention centers, libraries, parks, trails.

Local governments could make that decision.

So, that's a little bit of what's going on.

I look forward to catching up with you next time.

This has been Michael Wojcik with the "R-Town Legislative Rundown."

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) - My name is Alex Polikowsky, and this is Frodo, and we're here with "R-Town Walkabout."

(upbeat music) Our pet resort is PK Pet Resort and Spa, and PK, means puppies and kittens.

We have created this resort to be a luxury resort for your pet, for pampering, and safety.

Me and my partner, Christine Hall, has spent the last three years designing and building this beautiful facility to pamper and take care of your pets.

The top three things to us is safety, health and attention.

We're a small facility that just wanna give them a lot of one-on-one attention, and cater to the pet's exclusive needs.

Each pet has different needs, and we wanna make sure they are taken care of.

We don't have kennels, we have beautiful suites.

Our pets come to our resort, they stay in their own suites.

It has glass fronts, so they don't feel confined.

But at the same time, they're not seeing other animals.

They have their private patios that they can go out at any time, weather permitting.

(bright music) So our play area has a big screen TV.

And we'll have a couch.

And we can cuddle with them.

They can feel like they're getting attention, and play time individually.

They have cameras in every enclosure.

And you can watch your dog 24 hours a day.

They will go out several times a day.

We have full grooming in our facility.

I've been a groomer for over 45 years.

And I like to do one-on-one stress-free groomings.

We're a resort.

You going on vacation, you can leave your pet with us.

And they will be here relaxing, and being pampered while you're gone.

(bright music) (lively music) - We are joined today by Virginia Wright-Peterson, the Vice-Chancellor for Finance and Campus Resources at the University of Minnesota Rochester.

Here to share more with us about the University's campus and climate action plan.

Welcome back to "R-Town."

- Thank you for having me.

- So what is the campus and climate action plan?

And how is it connected to wider sustainability and decarbonization goals?

- Sure, the university has a protocol of every 10 years of doing a campus master plan.

This year though, for the first time, we're integrating the climate needs and sustainability, as you mentioned.

And, it's the first time we've sort of combined the two.

So starting last September with the assistance from the people of the Twin Cities, university staff, and an outside consultant, we've been gathering a lot of input from our own community on campus, and partners in the community, to take a look at what are the needs of our growing campus in terms of facilities.

And how can we plan for those in a very thoughtful way, especially with an eye to some of the climate issues confronting us.

- And you said this is the first time that you sort of combined those, the campus and the climate together.

Why is it so important to integrate both of those things in this plan?

- So, we're now thinking, it probably made sense all along, but we never really done it this way.

That the facilities planning, facilities have a huge impact on climate, energy utilization in particular.

And so, as we're planning the facilities, we wanna make sure that we are integrating the climate needs, and coming up with facilities plans that will help us meet our climate goals.

- UMR has, it's unique in a lot of ways, because you have had home downtown, and it has continued to grow and expand.

And a lot of things are also happening in our wider community.

We've got, of course, Destination Medical Center, Mayo Unbound, the City of Rochester has also engaged in a lot of different growth initiatives, specific to downtown and the wider area.

How, can you share a little bit with us about how the plan takes into account this sort of wider city context, that yeah, it's growing and expanding.

- Absolutely.

UMR is very grateful for all of the support we get from the community, and a lot of the partners that we work with.

And you are right, we are so unique.

I mean, embedded in sort of a shopping center, if you will, with the Galleria downtown.

And we have several other locations for housing and classrooms.

So, we're sort of decentralized, and embedded within the community.

Which is just a real cool opportunity.

I think we are excited about providing vibrancy in the downtown.

And we benefit our faculty, staff, students in the proximately to allow the healthcare Mayo Clinic, and a lot of the healthcare industry.

All of which, as you mentioned, are like changing right now with Mayo's big plans.

The city, especially with an eye to climate has had plans in place since really 2018, to become carbon free by 2050.

And they've created their thermal energy network.

And we're excited to be able to in the future, be able to hook into that, to help meet some of the university's climate goals as well.

DMC also is very committed, as they grow infrastructure for all of us, to some of the same climate goals.

So it's just a really dynamic, and interesting time right now, that we're all kind of working on this together.

- Yeah, it does sound like a very dynamic sort of ecosystem that you're working within.

You mentioned DMC, and I'm interesting in what are some of the specific partnership opportunities that are outlined in the action plan that's specific with Destination Medical Center?

- Sure.

We are excited about working with DMC, again on that infrastructure growth, if you will.

One aspect of that even beyond energy, kind of connectivity, is some of the transit loops and things that are being planned for downtown.

- [Nicole] So does that include things like the Rapid Bus System, and some of those things?

- Yep.

As well as expansion of the subway and skyway connections as our campus tends to grow a little bit south.

I think we will always be embedded in the downtown, like we are now, but we do own property down where the Y used to be.

And we will eventually be doing some building down there.

So being able to see some of that infrastructure go a little bit south, will be helpful for us.

- What are some of the key, well, let's focus maybe on the near term sort of things, some of the near term needs and goals that UMR is looking to address through this action plan?

- Absolutely.

So our growing campus is already out of classroom, and office space for faculty, for example.

We just opened the Student Life Center, the former Doubletree Hotel.

So for housing, we're good for a little while.

But we do have these other needs to actually grow, and maybe expand some of our square footage.

But in addition, one of the real interesting things that came out of this planning process, is we realized our sort of decentralized approach that has a lot of advantages.

We didn't really, we don't really have sort of the heart of the campus.

A place where you walk in, and it's like you really arrived in the university campus.

And so, I think we'll be looking at how we use some of our current space to better create kind of a campus community feel, embedded within the city.

So, that's kind of a short term need.

A lot, and in terms of our medium and long-term needs, like childcare is something that our campus community, but we know the community at large has a need for.

So we would love to be able to partner to have some sort of expansion of childcare opportunities, and in particular, in the downtown area.

That's one example of sort of a handful of things that we'll be looking at longer term.

- Well, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing this.

- Thank you for having me.

- And thank you all for joining us today.

I hope you learned as much as I did about all that's going on in our city, and the people making it happen.

From our wonderful content producer right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #rtown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town," the show about Rochester.

We'll see you next week.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (lively music) - [Narrator] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

(loon calling)