by Alex Dyer, Senior Political Science Major
“There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, to see if we could become something more. So that, when the time came, we could fight the battles that they never could.”
Nick Fury, The Avengers
While this quote is from the recent hit movie franchise starring Marvel superheroes, it could easily apply to the community coalitions that formed in response to challenges facing the Storm Lake community. While I may love cheesy superhero movies and special effects, there is also something to the idea that our stories reflect a bit of truth in everyday life. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to study the heroes of yesterday and today.
The old team was the trifecta of Mark Prosser, Bill Kruse, and Bob O’Brien, who dealt with the changing work force and expansion of non-English speaking education within Storm Lake Schools. Art Cullen describes “that Prosser, along with Bill Kruse, former superintendent of schools, and Bob O’Brien, then manager of IBP (later Tyson), formed a triumvirate of calm guidance that kept the lid from blowing off Storm Lake.”
While those three may not be as super-powered as Iron-Man, Captain America, or Thor, they brought a certain set of skills and networks to the table as they worked through a make-or-break time for the town. This took years of work. This progress also included setbacks and obstacles similar to any hero’s journey, for example the IBP raid of 1996, and by no means is the mission complete. All residents continue make personal decisions on a daily basis to improve the town for the better.
Our class has studied and written greatly on these changes, but we also have had the chance to speak with residents on the largest threat to the community over the past two years: Covid-19.
When the pandemic erupted, a new team of stakeholders had to meet and navigate the pandemic as the virus went through the meat packing plants. The coalition included figures like BVU President Brian Lenzmeier, Superintendent Stacy Cole, Chief of Police Chris Cole, and public health officials. Whether it was the sharing of spaces, like residence halls when hospitals were overflowing, or sharing knowledge on how the virus was spreading, the group of local actors informally met to problem-solve through a very dangerous time.
Since then, Iowa has even named and embraced the hero mythology with the “Iowa Hospital Association Hospital Hero,” being given to Dr. Kyle Glienke and Dr. Garrett Feddersen for their service and “leadership in Storm Lake during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Maybe I’m overthinking as I cast regular folks as the superheroes in the drama of daily life. Maybe I’m overplaying the heroics of what is happening in Storm Lake. But I think a point of this class is to find the stories within history, and to connect our interviews with newspaper articles. This class is designed for us to find and showcase the interesting aspects of Storm Lake and then take those skills to other fields of study. I think there is something to be said that the heroes we create reflect ourselves. The people in Storm Lake might not fight evil scientists or stop incoming asteroids daily; but I sense a hero’s journey that occurs within everyday residents.
Dr. Whitlach, or “Doc,” brought in a great final piece to this heroic puzzle. Actually, he identified many heroes: the thousands of workers of town and their working in the face of adversity. Workers in the meat packing plant “were doing everything they could to keep the supply of meat heading to the grocery stores,” even when health risks became outright dangerous, as the numbers of cases rose and the number of closures trickled. Likewise, “anyone working in a hospital” demonstrated heroism when the limited resources and personnel put hospital staff in tough decisions and straining circumstances.
“It was bad everywhere, but in rural America, with sometimes limited medical personnel and limited resources, it was a strain on everyone. Even at a big hospital like where my son is on the staff, it was an incredible strain on everyone,” he recently wrote to me. Combined with limited resources and “only… a couple of beds in ICU,” this meant that local medical officials needed to stretch themselves thinner and thinner as the pandemic progressed.
Doc’s point of highlighting the unnamed heroes of Storm Lake reinforces the idea that heroes can be anywhere and anyone, and you don’t need a special title or red cape to save the day.
Alex Dyer is a Political Science and Educational Studies student who greatly enjoys studying educational finance. Following graduation in May of 2022, Alex will be attending graduate school at John Carroll to pursue teaching in the social sciences and continue research on educational policy. Outside of classes, Alex is involved with Miami’s band as a saxophone player and plays broomball in his free time.
