This is Danny Ziebol (left photo). Danny is a student at Eden Prairie High School. Danny is getting ready to leave for a year long student Rotary Club exchange experience in Japan. He contacted me because he was looking for information about Eden Prairie that he could take with him on his trip. As a Rotary ex chance student, he is likely to have many opportunities to speak to Rotary Clubs in Japan about his home country and, especially, his hometown. I gave him some official City lapel pins, logo pens, and some copies of DVDs that the City has produced focusing on our park system, our business community, and our local history. I also gave him a DVD copy of our 3 minute feature video segment, which includes our official theme song. You can check out this short feature video at our website.
This is Danny’s dad, Fred (right photo). I snapped the photo of Fred in his unnatural environment. Fred’s natural environment is outside. Fred is a Senior Constructi
on Inspection Technician with the City. He’s worked here for over 26 years. Fred is the guy who works with private construction companies on the job site (i.e. – outside) to make sure that they build streets, water lines, sewer lines, sidewalks, trails, retaining walls and other kinds of public improvements according to City specifications. Fred’s job is important. The City depends on Fred to make sure that construction contractors toe the line and build what they’re supposed to build the way they’re supposed to build it. Fred has a good way about him. He works cooperatively with construction companies and gets what the City wants without creating undue conflict and hard feelings. That can be a tall order in the construction industry sometimes. We’re luck to have Fred around.
Fred and his wife Colleen have lived in Eden Prairie since 1980. They’ve raised their three sons, ages 24, 22 and 17 here. Fred has also been a fire fighter for the Eden Prairie Fire Department for the past 7 years. Interestingly, the fact that I mentioned Fred’s Fire Department connection in this blog entry means that he must now, according to official unofficial Fire Department custom, buy enough pie to treat his fellow fire fighters in his station. I’m glad I remembered that.
Danny leaves on for his exchange trip on Sunday. He flies to Detroit first, and then a non-stop 15-16 hour flight to Japan. I made a deal with Danny. When he returns I have asked him to narrate a Japanese language version of our short feature video. He’s looking forward to that, and so am I.
Good luck Danny. We’ll see you back home next year.
