(Anita) Jody Rudolph, of Anita, was recognized as the Iowan of the Day from the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation on Sunday.
The honor came with a stay at the Marriott in downtown Des Moines and a lot of other perks. “We received four gate admission tickets to the fair for the 15th, VIP parking right on the fairgrounds, a golf cart to use all day long which was lots of fun, then there was an awards ceremony on the Bill and Anne Riley stage, and I also received a bag of Iowa State Fair merchandise.”
The recently retired CAM music teacher and speech coach was nominated by Kay Stork and other CAM educators. “It was awesome. I have always known the staff at CAM appreciates hard work and appreciates things you do for others and this really showed that. I was so excited. It was such a beautiful day on Sunday. There were so many people and you could tell they were excited to be out and about again and it was a great day.”
Rudolph spent 34 years in education. She points out it takes a big effort to organize events and the CAM community has always been supportive. “Behind the scenes lining up volunteers and judges, people to bring food, chaperones for different events, it takes a lot of people to make those things happen and I was kind of the person to make it all happen I guess. I always appreciated that the CAM community was willing to say yes whenever I called.”
Outside of school activities, Rudolph has been heavily involved in Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day programs in the community along with taking kids to the nursing home to perform and other organizations around town.
She thanks the Blue Ribbon Foundation at the Iowa State Fair, sponsored by Cookies Food Products and Speed Herrig.