Written by Sam Horner
Hi everyone, this is Sam Horner, the Northeast Regional Coordinator for the YES! Program. In 2014, I accepted a position with the Minnesota Green Corps and this was my first introduction to the YES! Program. I worked with Jim DeVries to expand the program in the Northeast Region of Minnesota. It was an exciting time and we did a lot of great work to make the program a success. I helped Jim with the program off and on for the next couple of years. Then in 2018, I assumed the role of Northeast Regional Coordinator when Jim stepped down from the position. It was a big step in my career and I was excited to see how I could make this program an even bigger success. The teams have done some amazing projects including Carlton switching their plastic ware to silverware in their cafeteria, installing multiple hydration stations at the Northern Lights Community School, and multiple lake cleanups across our region and many other amazing projects. My coaches and students have put so much work into making our earth a better place. There have been some exciting changes in my life that have unfortunately led me to step down from my role of the Northeast Regional Coordinator. My fiancé has been accepted to Medical School at UMD this fall and we will be getting married next summer. We decided that we should be together during this time, because of the stress that medical school will be put on us. I will no longer be working at Laurentian Environmental Center and it will be too hard to continue facilitating this program at a high level without the help I get from the Laurentian Environmental Center. I am excited for this new chapter in my life and I will be looking forward to seeing what other great projects come out of the Northeast Region in years to come! I’d like to thank YES! for everything that it’s done for my career. This has been a great part of my life, because this organization does so much great work and is filled with amazing people.
Major funding for the YES! program was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).