Written and submitted by Blake Ortloff
The Glencoe-Silver Lake YES! Team was represented by Blake Ortloff and Adam Thalmann at the McLeod County Corn and Soybean Growers Association annual meeting. Saturday, January 26th. The Pla-Mor Ballroom was filled with farmers and other agriculture industry representatives for dinner and presentations.
Blake and Adam presented the history of YES! and the Supermileage program at GSL High School. The students shared how the two programs, Supermileage and YES! were a perfect combination as they have shared goals-decrease the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions and increase our use of renewable energies. On display at the event were two of the teams Supermileage vehicles. The “Pink Cadillac” is an E-85 machine that achieved 200 miles per gallon. The second vehicle, called “Purple Rain” was built in 2017. It is an electric vehicle that achieved a fuel efficient equivalence of over 1000 MPG.
Before the meal Blake and Adam met with farmers at the vehicle display and answered questions. The members were happy to see youth involved in such a program and happy to see how their corn products were being used in our E-85 car. Blake stated, “We were happy to have the opportunity not only to say thank you to our sponsor, but also educate them on what we do in the super mileage and YES programs.”
