With a Little Help From Our Friends

The Norseland Community is large in enthusiasm, but pretty small in manpower. When faced with a task of collecting historical information about the community, the Norseland 150th Anniversary Committee asked for some help. The help came in the way of Sarah Wolter’s Interpersonal Communication Class at Gustavus Adolphus College.

The class assignment was to conduct an interview with complete strangers. Certainly it takes some particular skills to establish a rapport with a complete stranger and then get them to open up and answer personal questions. These are the kinds of skills needed if students want to go on to become journalists. The class needed people who would be willing to be interviewed and the 150th Anniversary Committee needed historical information for our project. A partnership was developed and on March 20 a meeting was arranged at the Norseland Lutheran Church. Our committee lined up 17 people from the area to attend and be interviewed. The class was comprised of 21 students who came to Norseland from the campus. Our committee had prepared a list of topics pertinent to the Norseland Community and students also had an opportunity to pose their own questions. The final product of each interview will be placed on a compact disc and presented to our committee.

The students accomplished in one afternoon what would have taken many, many hours for our committee.
Our event got some publicity that day also as, Ruth Kossner, editor of The Ledger attended and did a front-page story in the Mar. 29 edition. Thanks to all who made this event a success. Community members who were interviewed were: Paul and Lois Bjorklund, Harold and Louise Rodning, Caroll and Elaine Hermanson, Don and Laurie Webster, Bob and Corinne Johnson; Jerry Johnson, Duane Olmanson, Hubert Anderson, Garfield Eckberg, Margaret Norell, Margaret Annexstad, and Beatrice Enter. Willard and Marilyn Bjorklund were interviewed at a later date by a student who was ill that day.

This event continues a unique partnership between Gustavus Adolphus and the Norseland Community. Early settlers to Norseland were responsible for encouraging the location of Gustavus in the city of St. Peter. end