Alumni Success Story: Dannie Nordsiden

College Re-Visit:

Dannie Nordsiden, a 1979 graduate of the Auto Mechanics program, stopped in on the Canby campus. He was in the area pheasant hunting and spending time in Walnut Grove with family. Linda Pesch, Director of Enrollment, took Dannie on a tour of the campus. Currently, he lives in Vancouver, Washington, and works at Clark College as the Automotive Department Head and Internship Manager.

Linda was in Portland, OR attending a college conference and was able to make a trip to the sister city of Vancouver, where Dannie currently works. She visited Dannie at Clark College and toured their automotive, diesel and welding programs along with many other features of the college.

After Graduation

After graduating from Minnesota West in 1979, Dannie spent 37 years in the automotive industry. He worked for independent shops, Chevy & Buick Dealerships, and Northwest Airlines in Minnesota. He took his expertise west to LA and Portland and worked for Northwest Airlines as a plant manager, working on anything with wheels except airplanes. Dannie has been an ASE Master Technician since 1985.

Today

Six years ago Dannie decided it was time to apply his knowledge in a different way and began working at Clark College as their internship manager. Dannie says he is working his dream job at this point and living out many of the lessons taught to him while at Minnesota West. His vision is to engage with local industry and create spaces for students to be excited to learn, mentored, and truly be work ready. Dannie said, "Believing the trades is simply a path to a job couldn’t be further from the truth. It is a path to a career and lifelong learning, success, and satisfaction." Dannie credits Minnesota West faculty, in particular Don Berndt, and local shop owners, George and Ardi Eilers for where he is today and thanks them for their mentorship and willingness to lead and teach. In his spare time, he enjoys pheasant hunting, trap shooting, riding motorcycle, and antiquing.