Mascot has a new face in the window

Customers might notice someone new in the window on the world at the Mascot office.

Cherrilynn “Cherri” Schmig joined the Mascot staff recently, taking over as office manager for Chris Hansen, who left to join the financial staff at FCA (Cenex) in Minneota.

Schmig's niece is Brittany Moorse, a proofreader/columnist/production at the Mascot. “Funny thing, the reason I got interested in the job at the Mascot is Brittany,” the personable Schmig said.

“One day, out of the blue, I got this text from her asking if I was interested in working at the Mascot.” “I said, 'sure'. I was out for a walk anyway, so I dropped by the Mascot to get an application. I filled it out and the next day I got an interview with Byron. And the rest is history.” Byron Higgin, the Mascot Publisher, is excited to have Schmig join the award-winning newspaper.

“We were extremely sad to lose Chris Hansen from our staff because she’s done a tremendous job for us,” he said. “However, it didn’t take long and Schmig emerged as a capable person with roots and understanding of Minneota.”

“This is more than a secretarial position, it’s a job at the center and core of the community and the person in that spot has to have her finger on the pulse of the community,” he added. “In fact,” Higgin added, “It takes personality, patience and a desire to help create a newspaper the community will enjoy.”

Schmig's duties include meeting and greeting customers, subscriptions, answering the phone, organizing ads, 75-50-25 years ago column, recipe column, selling advertising, proofreading, general office work, printing photographs for customers, weekly billing and more. Schmig and her husband Nathan have been married for 18 years and have three children — Duncan, 17; Laura, 13; and Kara, 11. They live in Minneota and also have a foster child, Ethan Long, a freshman at South Dakota State University majoring in Computer Science.

Schmig grew up in Arlington and graduated from Sibley East High School in 1992. She attended Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall and received an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration. She also met her husband at SMSU. Previously, Schmig worked at St. Edward's School as a cook for four year and more recently worked at Runnings in Canby.

“My family loves movies,” said Schmig, when asked about her interests.

“We volunteer our time helping at the (community-owned) Canby Theater.” “We help with the ticket booth, concessions, prep work, clean up, and more. My husband went to high school with Mike Tesch, the Canby Theater manager.”

In her early stages of working at the Mascot, everything has gone smoothly so far. “Give me a little more time and I am sure something out of the ordinary will happen,” she joked. “But for now, all is quiet.”

“It’s hard to imagine such a smooth transition. But Chris was a wonderful teacher and she had time to train Cherri before she headed across town to FCA,” Higgin said.

He added, “Cherri and Brittany ARE the Mascot, as much as I am, and they are two capable people who make it run smoothly. I am so glad to have both of them.” In fact, the publisher added, “She has picked up everything very quickly and she’s ready to help our customers.”

Likely you’ll still find a friendly face and a person willing and trained to help. “Come and say hello to Cherri.

She’s the new, ‘Window on the world.’”