Minnesota Public Radio (3/29)

Lynum was a Lutheran pastor in nearby Svea in 2006, when he heard Willmar's superintendent interviewed after she accompanied then-Gov. Tim Pawlenty on a trade mission to China. Lynum, who studied Mandarin in Taiwan as a college student, called the district office. Soon, he was running an after-school Chinese club. It was popular, so the administration decided to offer formal classes the following semester. Lynum quit his church job, and is now the district's full-time Chinese teacher.

"The kids are well aware; they tell me they really see that China is coming on strong," he said. "It's powerful, and it's a player on the world stage now. And we need to understand it. And that just delights me to hear that."

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/03/29/chinese-mandarin-students/