Putting N.D. on the map

From Kim Koppelman:

Most eyes in our region were focused on a football game more than 200 miles away on Saturday – the contest between the North Dakota State University Bison and the Minnesota Gophers. You could almost hear the cheers all the way from the Metrodome when the Bison defeated the Gophers, avenging a 1-point loss last season in a game during which they had outplayed their Big Ten opponents, but came up just short on the scoreboard.
West Fargo’s own Tyler Roehl was a star of Saturday’s game for the Bison, setting a new school rushing record. Our community can be proud of this former Packer.
This weekend’s events are significant because the Bison’s performance, to a great extent, represents North Dakota, and not only on the athletic field.
Formerly a dominant Division II football program, NDSU overcame naysayers and scoffers when it made the move to Division I a few years ago. In classic fashion, the school and its athletic teams demonstrated that reaching for greater things pays far better dividends than allowing others to convince you it can’t be done.
They not only made the transition and were competitive, they are now the No. 1 team in what used to be known as the NCAA’s Division
I-AA.
North Dakota has often been the underdog, and we’ve often surpassed expectations. North Dakota native and former national newsman, Eric Sevareid, once said “North Dakota is a rectangular-shaped blank spot on the nation’s consciousness.” Very true. That’s not a slam. It doesn’t mean that our state has a bad reputation – just that, for many, it has no reputation. People simply don’t know much about North Dakota.
A professional who moved back to North Dakota from across the country in order to work here told me that when he moved in and met his new neighbor, the neighbor asked where he had moved from. When he told him, the neighbor asked, “Why would you want to live here?”
Now may be a good time for all of us to take stock in our state and realize how much we really have to offer.
It’s up to those of us who live hear and love this place to put North Dakota on the map. That’s happening more and more, today, on many levels. Of course, North Dakota has long been a renowned agricultural leader, often called the “breadbasket of the nation,” but more is going on here.
From the athletic field to the business world, from higher education to quality of life indicators, North Dakota is being noticed and is surpassing expectations. I’m impressed, as I visit with legislators, governors, judges, business leaders and others around the nation, to learn that those who know something about North Dakota usually have something good to say.
The nation is fast discovering what companies like Microsoft and football teams like the Minnesota Gophers have realized – North Dakota is a place to be reckoned with.
North Dakota natives applying for jobs in other states are often hired on the spot, when employers familiar with our work ethic learn where they’re from. Now, many of those quality, home-grown folks are coming home, recalling that the place where they grew up is a pretty good place to sink roots, build a future and raise a family.
If all of us puff out our chests a bit, maybe it won’t violate our culture of modesty, after all. In fact, a mention now and then of what a great place North Dakota is will get the word out and help us grow and build for the future. Instead of wringing our hands about out-migration, slow population growth, weather, or any of the other tired, familiar themes we’ve complained about, now may be a good time to see the glass as half-full instead
of half-empty and play a part in taking our state to new levels
we’ve never seen before.
Together, we can do it. After all, we’re from North Dakota.
Koppelman, R-West Fargo, has represented District 13 in the N.D. House of Representatives since 1994. He is chairman of the Constitutional Revision Committee and member of the Political Subdivisions and Judiciary committees.