Our foreign exchange student Leonard from Austria provided a brief update on his exchange experience to-date. He appears to be thriving at MVHS, participating in cross-country events and doing well in his classes. His English skills were already good when he arrived but have continued to get even better. Our speaker was Jeff Howison from the State Demographer's Office. Jeff and his family moved to MN from Ohio this summer and his children attend Valentine Hills Elementary School in Arden Hills. He presented a summary of results from the last census in 2020, and described the census process as "truly a bedrock of American democracy" as it underpins the assignment of congressional seats and other critical government decisions. Minnesota's population grew 7.6% between 2010 and 2020 and now has a population of over 5.7 million. The growth figures vary greatly by county, however, with most outstate counties declining and the major population centers increasing. The trends vary by age and race also. The white, non-Hispanic population went down by 51,000 and the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) population grew by over 450,000. Our population has also gotten older, as much of the growth is younger population categories.