Courage Responding to Tragedy

The following column originally appeared in a number of APG of East Central Minnesota newspapers during August 2026, including the Aitken Independent Age,  Dakota County Tribune, Mille Lacs Messenger,  Monticello Times,  Press & News, Sun Current, Sun Sailor, Sun This Week, (appears in Apple Valley)Burnsville, Eagan,& Lakeville,) and  Union Times,

 

Courage responding to Tragedy

Sofia Templos, Sara Clemons, Kathy Cooper and Dr. Arden Virnig represent Minnesota at its best. As we move toward a  new school year, I hope young people and families will find their work not just inspiring, but instructive.

We’ll start with Templos, who lived in the Apple Valley/Eagan area several years ago. One of her friends died from a drug overdose. She was devastated. Templos wondered what she could have done differently to help her friend.

Sofia in Mn House Chamber

Using her grief, she helped lead several teens working on this issue with the Minnesota State Legislature. She told me, “It was big for me to turn my grief into something that could potentially change and save others’ lives. Knowing that I didn’t just have to sit and sulk and think ‘oh, if I did this differently, it would have been different.’”

Her team gained a rare 133-0  supportive vote in the 2025 Minnesota House. The Minnesota Senate also agreed. The Legislature asked the Minnesota Department of Education to gather and share with every public school the best approaches to helping youngsters learn how to deal with a drug overdose.

Let’s move to Sara Clemons, a physical education teacher and coach in the Princeton, Minnesota public schools. She’s just completed her 16^th year of teaching. Several years ago, a young man named Ethan, who had taken several of her classes and who she had coached on Princeton’s track team, died by suicide just a few months before graduating.  Clemons told me that “I felt intense heart ache. I seriously considered quitting teaching, which I love.”

Instead, Clemons started the Minnesota non-profit ETHAN Foundation (Every Teen Has a Neighbor) to provide counseling to young people in distress. The group is planning a fall fundraiser/golf tournament. More details here:

 

Sara Clemons (photo courtesy of Ms Clemons)

Then there’s Kathy Cooper. In 1999, her teen daughter was killed while riding in a car with a drunk driver.

Cooper has served for almost 20 years as Rice County’s Safe Road coordinator. She has worked with teens, educators, legislators and community members on an array of actions that helped raise awareness of and helped increase safe driving practices.

In 2024, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety gave her its “Outstanding Service Award.” She’s also been honored by the Northfield Police Department. More information here: https://tinyurl.com/4aydc3t7

Finally, there’s Dr. Arden Virnig, from the Onamia area. His daughter, Mary Catherine, was an outstanding student and athlete. Shortly after entering college, she was diagnosed with a rare blood disease. She died several years later, in 2010. In her honor, Dr. Virnig has cycled almost 11,000 miles between 2015 and now, raising more than $166,000 for Children’s Cancer Research. Others, inspired by him, have raised an additional $54,000.

 

Dr. Virnig, courtesy of Mille Lacs Messenger

Dr. Virnig, now 66,  told me that he’s doing additional riding this year. He’s working with Great Cycle Challenge, which he praises for funding early cancer research. Virnig explained: “You have to have new and fresh ideas. Some of this research has led to a new drug targeting the disease that killed Mary Catherine. “

You can read about his work here:

To donate, honoring his fall cycling,  go here.

In each case, these folks demonstrated remarkable courage, when faced with intense tragedy.

 

Thanks to Rebecca Gilseth, Managing Editor of the Mille Lacs Messenger, Chloe Smith, Editor of the Union Times, and Colton Kemp,  Northfield News/Lonsdale Area News-Review associate editor, for helping me learn about Clemens, Cooper and Virnig

 

Ms. Templos, who I’ve known for several years, offered words I hope every Minnesota teen considers:

“Our grief and our sorrows are not what breaks us. Giving up is. Being a younger person at this point, it can be very discouraging to see all the bad things happening in the world. It’s even more important right now to push for what’s right.”

 

Joe Nathan, PhD, has been a Minnesota public school educator and PTA president  Reactions welcome, joe@centerforschoolchange.org