To the Game of Life class at Southwest Middle School.

We commend the staff of Southwest Middle School for implementing a fun way for students to learn real-life skills.

The Game of Life class assigns students a made-up Social Security number, and throughout the course of several weeks students get to go through various stages of life, learning the ins and outs of attending college, balancing money and choosing a career, to name a few.

We think these are valuable insights for the students to be learning at the middle school level, and we thank the teachers who are teaching these skills.

To the three businesses named Businesses of the Year.

Congratulations to Albert Lea Area Schools, Mortarr and CCF Bank, who were named large, medium and small businesses of the year, respectively, Thursday evening during the annual Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce banquet at Wedgewood Cove.

Congratulations also to Mary Nelson and Julia Thompson, who were named Volunteers of the Year, and Susie Petersen who was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hardworking people are key to Albert Lea’s success, and we thank you for your efforts to make it a great community.

To the announcement that the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce and Albert Lea Economic Development Agency will move their offices into a shared space downtown.

After at least a year of discussion between the chamber and ALEDA, we were excited to hear that the two organizations will move into a building downtown together at 132 N. Broadway.

The building, which formerly housed Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, is expected to open to the public Oct. 14.

We think this will be a great chance for the two entities to share some resources and increase collaboration. Plus, they will be more accessible to the public and closer to other community resources, such as the Albert Lea Convention and Visitors Bureau and city and county offices.

Another plus is to see the building be renovated.

We look forward to seeing this collaboration and hope it helps strengthen the efforts of recruiting and retaining businesses.