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Where are they now?

BLAKE RABE
City where you currently reside: Kaunakakai, Hawaii

Year graduated from VCHS: 2006
Education or training after graduation: Associate’s degree in agriculture, Lake Land College; and bachelor’s degree in agriculture, Illinois State University
Parents/Spouse/Children: Parents: Corey and Emma Sue Rabe
Occupations during and after high school: Mowed lawns in and around Vandalia, Rural King Supply in Mattoon as a sales associate, Remington Seeds in Bloomington as a seasonal employee and Monsanto in Illiopolis as a summer intern. Post-college: seed production trainee and seed quality supervisor with Monsanto in Waterman, operations supervisor with Monsanto in Kunia on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Currently production manager with Monsanto in Kaunakakai on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Hawaii’s tropical climate allows for year-round growing of corn and soybeans. Because three crop cycles can be grown per year and there is low risk from weather, Hawaii is a safe and reliable place to produce new and important corn and soybean varieties for farmers.    
School activities/clubs/sports that you participated in: FFA, football, band and peer tutoring
School friends: Too many to name!
Vandalia teachers/coaches/administrators remembered. Mrs. (Jan) McNew teaching touch points, Mrs. (Sally) Miller reading Wayside School books in her big rocking chair, Mr. (Todd) Marquardt and virtual reality class, Mr. (Kevin) Schroeder requiring math problems be done by each student on the board (good way to learn), Mr. (Ken) Roberts making science very interesting, Coach (John) Stout, Coach (Glenn) Exton, Coach (Brian) Buscher and Coach (Jason) Clay being great football coaches and cracking the occasional joke, Coach (Mike) Butler’s humor and mile-long history reading worksheets, TP’ing Coach (Brian) and Senora (Beth) Kern’s house and in return got TP’d by them and led on a wild goose chase around town that ended by being drenched with a bucket of cold water.
Fondest memories of Vandalia: Swimming at the pool, ice-cream from Dairy Queen, four-wheeler and motorcycle riding in the woods and along the river, cherry Coke and lunch from Cuppy’s, watching movies at the Liberty Theatre, Friday night football games, boating, camping and fishing at the river and Vandalia Lake, cruising Eighth Street and hanging out at the Caboose and city parking lots, homecoming and Halloween parades, Grande Levée and Old Tyme Christmas at the Vandalia Statehouse, Santa in the Caboose during Christmas, and mowing yards around town and having people honk and wave when passing by.  
 

Blake Rabe

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