Tag Archives: students

Fargo: More Heart Than Water

Posted on by
Reply

De ja vu all over again

Welcome to Sandbag Central where everyone from all over the state and even the country has come to Fargo-Moorhead to help out for this year’s flood. Two years have passed since the last major flood, and it looks like city officials are once again calling on the students to give them a helping hand.  These are all just part of another spring for people in the Red River Valley.

Photo Courtesy from Inforum.com

Students play Superman role

In 2009, school was canceled due to flooding. Students who came to campus and didn’t know it was canceled were put on a bus and transported to areas that needed help. Many of the students in the Fargo-Moorhead area could put an “S” on the front of their shirts because it was their responsibility to report to hundreds of sandbagging sites and help save our community. This year is different, however, with classes still being held. And, if the campus is shut down because of severe flooding almost every class turns into an online class.

Cold, exhausted, hungry and frustrated

The biggest struggle residents had in 2009 was the environment we were working in. My roommate and I made our way to MSUM to sign in as flood-fighting volunteers. We got there at 11 a.m. The temperature was in the teens, and there was blowing wind and snow. It was cold enough to make a person’s fingers numb. We were then transported to different locations to help out. After a while, the shovel began to scrape on my hands. The wounds were so bad I had to stop working and go inside to do a little first aid to my hand. About 4 p.m., we began to get hungry and sore. Our group wanted to go back to MSUM so we could get our cars and some food. When the bus came to pick us up, I remember hearing the bus driver say, “We need more people down south.” What was I supposed to do? Get shipped to a new location and be angry at the way this process was going? My roommate and I had done all that we could so we called a friend to come pick us up. Exhausted, we were finished for the day. Other students on the bus seemed to feel the same way after struggling with the cold, wind and now exhaustion and hunger.

“My hands were so cold I could barely hold the bags and what we did is take turns holding the bags and pouring the sand in the bags with the shovel,” said NDSU student Tom Jangula. “We played a game with the other sandbaggers and it was who can fill a pallet faster and correctly, we won.”

Courtesy by USA Today Fargo Flooding in 2009

Taking baby steps

Since the 09’ flood, Fargo and Moorhead have been in discussion trying to create a diversion channel that would send the Red River’s overflow around the two towns, much like the flood protection West Fargo enjoys from the Sheyenne Diversion. In the meantime, what they have come up with is building “Sandbag Central,” or what the riverside residents of Fargo-Moorhead call “hope.” Some of the bigger sandbags filled at Sandbag Central will be placed around the city of Fargo in new sandbag holders.

Play time is over!

Photo Courtesy from Inforum.com

We may be running out of ‘fight’

So, it’s once again April, and city officials are ready to fight the river again. We did it before and we can do it again, but how many times do we need to say that until someone steps up and finds a solution to the problem? Grand Forks figured out a way, and so did West Fargo. Even if we do figure out a solution for Fargo-Moorhead’s flooding, are we creating more problems for surrounding areas?

Photo Courtesy from Inforum.com I walk a lonely road the only one that I have ever known.

This year we win a real weather ‘prize’

Thanks to our flood fighting, dangerous winters and below-zero temperatures The Weather Channel has awarded us the title of toughest/worst city in the United States. Is it an honor? Or is it a way for others to look down on us for because we live here? Yes, Fargo is a great place to live, but it can be a struggle from November through March or April. Fargo allows one to spend summer the way it should be spent; with friends and family enjoying the outdoors. But in order to get to those nice days we must stop our enemy: H2O.

‘WE WANT YOU’

Once again, it’s time to get back out and fight to save our town. In the next few days the river will crest at about 39 feet, according to the National Weather Service. In 2009 the Red River hit 41 feet. Another two years, another flood, another call for student help. How many years will students be called on to help out? When will city officials have a solution to control the Red River?

(Edited by Ryan Ellingson, mass communications major)

Fargo Film Festival helps students grow

Posted on by
3

Story by Brianna Brickweg

MSUM English/Mass Communications

Education majors have student teaching. Business majors have internships. Film majors have a festival.

Film students in Fargo/Moorhead are given learning opportunities through the Fargo Film Festival. The festival runs from March 1 to March 5 at the Fargo Theatre. Students can enter their films into the festival for $10 less than other submissions. The festival also offers a student grant. The grant is worth $1500 and can be used in any way to help make the student’s senior seminar project.

Grant helps film students create their own project

Students submit a formal proposal. The proposal includes: writing a treatment, which is a 2-page-minimum synopsis, listing crew members, describing what the money will be used for, listing past works, creating a budget and creating a filming schedule.

“I basically sat down for several weeks in a row writing a 60-some-page proposal,” film student Nicholas Korokidas said about applying for the grant. “It’s a lot of work.”

The application is due in January and the winner of the grant is announced on the opening night of the festival. The winner gets a spot for their film in the festival next year along with the money.

This year two students are up for the grant: Nicholas Korokidas and Ben Pimlott.

Andrew Neill premieres ‘Lutefisk’ at the festival

Andrew Neill, a recent MSUM film graduate, entered a film he produced for his senior seminar class last year. The film, “A Lutefisk Western,” will be playing on March 5 at 11:30 a.m.

Cody Bushee plays Gunnar in "A Lutefisk Western." Submitted by Andrew Neill.

“This [A Lutefisk Western] was a much bigger production because it was an action film,” Neill said, “which was part of the reason we wanted to do it. We wanted to make an action film because nobody in the [MSUM film] department really has ever made an action film before.”

Gunnar (Cody Bushee) being chased by two mounties (Lucas Vonasek and Steven Molony, from left to right). Submitted by Andrew Neill.

Neill entered other films into the festival previously – a black and white 16-millimeter film, “Façade,” in 2009 and a 16-millimeter film, “Condoms,” in 2010.

Kristen Conaty premieres grant-winning film concept at the festival

Kristen Conaty, an MSUM film senior, won the student grant last year. She used the money to buy a camera for filming her project, which cost a total of $2500.

Conaty also proposed filming in Rhode Island as part of her senior seminar and she flew her entire cast and crew to the location last fall.

“I think it [the Fargo Film Festival] definitely pushed me a lot and we did a far bigger project because of that [grant],” Conaty said.

The cast and crew of "The Years" (from left to right: Adam Brandt, Caroline Stommes, Kyle Fogarty, Kristen Conaty, Ivan Clow, Tara Kramer, Ben Pimlott and Jessica Toth. Submitted by Kristen Conaty.

Kristen Conaty (left) directs Caroline Stommes (right) in "The Years." Submitted by Kristen Conaty.

Conaty’s film, “The Years,” will be playing on March 5 at 1:30 p.m.

Nicholas Korokidas applies for the student film grant

Korokidas is the first applicant for the grant this year. He proposed a project, “Honesty,” which he will be filming for his senior seminar.

Nicholas Korokidas (left) directing a scene from "Stranger than Fiction" for a class project. Katie Korynta (center) and Kristin Fox (right) are the actresses. Submitted by Nicholas Korokidas.

One thing Korokidas focused on in his proposal was the idea that filmmakers overuse Fargo/Moorhead as a location. Korokidas argues this isn’t true and wants to use his film to express to other filmmakers that filming in Fargo/Moorhead is beneficial.

“I chose to set my film in the Fargo/Moorhead area because I believe there are certain parts of it that are beautiful without people realizing it,” Korokidas said. “They don’t see the beauty around them and it’s sad because you don’t have to look that far.”

Ben Pimlott applies for the student film grant

Pimlott is the second applicant up for the grant this year. He said applying for the grant was a “very professional process.”

Pimlott proposed a six-part web series for his senior seminar.

Pimlott has a film in the festival this year. His film, “Dragon’s Breath,” was made for his intermediate film class and will be playing at the festival on March 5 at 10:20 a.m. Pimlott also had a film in the festival last year, “Folie Simultaneé,” which he made for his beginning film class.

Billy Schnase is Ben Pimlott's film "Dragon's Breath." Submitted by Ben Pimlott.

Fargo Film Festival provides a networking opportunity for students

Neill loves the networking opportunities at the Fargo Film Festival. He volunteered at the festival while still in school and thought it was a great way to meet professionals.

“For a student, it’s really good insight of what it’s like [working as a filmmaker],” Neill said. “Everybody kind of gives the same advice you learn as you go there over and over, and [it is]: ‘In order to be a filmmaker you have to make films,’ so what’s stopping you? Just go out and make a movie.”

Films should be seen and heard

Students love having a festival in the area so they can do what they were intended to do with their films: show them.

“That’s one thing that they teach you in film school, and they tell you time and time at the festival, is films are made to be seen,” Neill said. “The Fargo [Film Festival] is a really accessible festival for film students in the area.”

“It’s nice to have something built into the community where I’m going to school,” Pimlott said, “where I can possibly expand on [showing the film] and get it seen by more people.”

Ben Pimlott's "Dragon's Breath" is about feng shui, bringing positive energy to the Fargo Film Festival. Submitted by Ben Pimlott.

Edited by Dane Kipp, MSUM journalism major.

________________________________________________________________________

Teen Art Squad new opportunity for local high school students

Posted on by
Reply

Plains Art Museum develops program bringing teens, art and community together

By Kelsie O’Keefe
MSUM Mass Comm Major

Plains Art Museum’s Teen Art Squad gets area high school students involved in art and the community, while helping them gain useful knowledge and experience to prepare them for college and beyond.

The Teen Art Squad is a group of regional teenagers who work with the museum education staff to develop and implement teen-focused art programs through the Plains Art Museum. The goal is to create a partnership between the museum and area teenagers which will strive to inspire and engage teens in hopes of promoting community, culture and the arts.



 
Area high school students have a chance to learn, make friends, and create a partnership with the community.
photo provided by Plains Art Museum
 

Art Squad not just for artists

The Teen Art Squad program is new this year, starting at the beginning of the 2010 school year.
It was researched and developed by Timothy Lillehaugen, an intern working at the museum in summer 2009, with the help of Andrew Maus, the museum’s previous director of education.

“We want (students) who have a pulse on culture, politics and society because that’s what artists, writers and thinkers are working with,” says Maus.

About 10 students are chosen for the squad based on applications.

“They need not be skilled artists,” says Maus. “We believe that art making and art looking is for everybody, no matter what your skill sets.”

Art teachers throughout the region are being contacted in hopes of having student representation from as many high schools as possible.

Students decide

The idea of the program is to have students decide what they want to do, how they want to do it and who they want to involve.

“The opportunity to impact and shape the program would give (students) a sense of ownership, which is extremely powerful in itself,” says Kristi Nigg, counselor at West Fargo High School.

Although Sandy BenHaim, the museum’s new director of education and Colleen Sheehy, museum director, oversee the group and provide basic ideas to get students thinking, the squad ultimately decides what projects it wants to take on for the year.

Possibilities include:

  • Weekly open art studio night: The squad organizes and hosts nights for high school students to use the museum’s art studios to create their own works. Demonstrations could be held, or local artists could be invited to guide students.


  • Teen art celebration: During Youth Art Month the squad hosts a celebration for students to have the museum to themselves for an entire night. They could set up group projects like a graffiti wall, host a dance, create cities out of boxes or have a space for individual creativity.


  • Publication: The squad will produce a web or print publication focused on teen art and culture in the community.


  • 60-second movie contest: The squad will create and host a yearly themed, any genre movie contest and get the word out to the demographic they’ve chosen to target.

Squad helps students prepare for life, college

Because students have to apply for the Teen Art Squad and the selection is on a competitive basis, the program can do more for students than learning community-based art program planning.

“The Teen Art Squad program could benefit students on various levels,” says Nigg. “A program like this could teach students lifelong skills, which could include leadership and time management tools, and the importance of open communication. In addition, students could have the chance to connect with other teens in the community who have similar interests and passions.”

The squad could potentially provide opportunities and resources for students needing college scholarships, extracurricular experience and resume and application builders, says Nigg.



The Teen Art Squad gives students an opportunity to teach and learn from each other.
photo provided by Plains Art Museum


Teens involved across the country

Getting teens involved in art and the community seems to be a growing trend across the country. Plains Art Museum looked at more than 30 museums with programs for teens as models and inspiration.

Palm Springs Museum in California has a long history of teen programming, including a Teen Art Group.

“The museum is a place for teens to be creative, but with a safety net,” says Emily Spallina, education programs manager at the museum, who works almost exclusively with the teens. “There are no grades, no teachers, no judgment. By the end of the year, they feel a sense of ownership in the institution.”

In 2009 Palm Spring’s Teen Art Group planned a party at the museum. That night, the group hosted 340 kids.

“As kids start getting more excited about the projects, they start coming into the museum earlier and earlier,” says Spallina. “That’s my measure of success.”

Counselor recommends squad

Nigg says she will recommend the Teen Art Squad program to West Fargo High School students.

“Meaningful programs like this give students a chance to explore their creative potential, which builds confidence and motivates students to make positive and responsible decisions after high school,” says Nigg.

Parents are also urged to encourage their teens to join.

Connect, gain knowledge, have fun

The Teen Art Squad is open to all regional high school students entering grades 9-12 in the fall. Eight monthly meetings are held during the school year in the Presentation Center on the first floor of Plains Art Museum. Students are required to attend at least six of these meetings.

For applications call or email Sheehy at 701-232-3821 ex. 123 or csheehy@plainsart.org. Applications for the fall 2010 squad are due April 30.

The squad is an opportunity for students to connect with other teens, the community and themselves, gain knowledge for the future that they can’t get in class and above all, have fun.

 

Hybrid yoga: an exercise in injury

Posted on by
Reply

Americans are ‘feeling the burn’ all the way to the clinic

By Kelsie O’Keefe
MSUM Mass Comm. Major
Photos by Amita Manandhar

Sixteen million Americans are stretching out to an exercise medium that’s growing in style, variety, popularity and injury.

More injuries, less harmony

Yoga is meant to reconnect individuals with themselves and bring their outer life into perspective. But as the Eastern practice moves west, untrained instructors, at-home videos and yoga hybrids are losing that concept. The result is more inner injuries and less inner harmony.

According to the “Yoga Journal,” approximately 16 million people practice yoga in the United States. Because no agency keeps accurate records of the number of yoga-related injuries, it’s difficult to say how many people have been hurt, but it’s clear the numbers are rapidly rising across the United States, says Dr. Jeffrey Halbrecht, board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in arthroscopic surgery and sports medicine and former medical director for the Women’s World Pro Ski Tour.



Andrea Krejci, a yoga instructor at Soulista, demonstrates a difficult pose to her class.


 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has the most recent published statistics on injuries. Doctors’ offices, clinics and emergency rooms saw more than 5,500 yoga-related injuries in 2007, incurring a total cost of approximately $108 million. Many doctors and yoga instructors say that these numbers have continued to rise.

Urgent Med in Moorhead and MeritCare, Innovis Health and the YMCA in Fargo were contacted for information about the number of yoga-related injuries but none had records.

Eastern concepts lost on at-home Americans

As Americans’ time and budgets drain, exercising at home is a growing trend. Workout DVDs may be fine for sit-ups but yoga should be left in the studio, say some instructors.

“I have clients who come in to me for massage therapy because they’ve injured themselves doing yoga videos at home,” says Juliet Trnka, a certified yoga instructor, massage therapist and owner of Five Element Yoga and Thai Massage in downtown Fargo. “People come in and say they are getting a much better quality experience by coming to class. They’re actually making the mind-body connection whereas watching a video does not do that.”


Krejci starts off her yoga class with a short meditation to help keep focused through the session.




Community lacks instructor certification standards

Part of the blame for the rise in yoga-related injuries falls on uncertified yoga instructors. No federal law regulates standards for yoga instructors.

“Would you go to a doctor if he didn’t have the proper education,” asks Darcy Neumann, certified yoga instructor and owner of Soulista Pilates and Yoga Studio in downtown Moorhead. “Why would you expect your yoga teacher, who is asking you to pay for those services, to not have the proper education?”

Trnka places some blame on lack of community standards. “There’s really no standard in our community,” she says. “Many people are teaching with little or no training or experience.”

Instructors look to students’ needs

Dawn Morgan, a certified yoga instructor and executive director of the Spirit Room, a non-profit educational studio in downtown Fargo, suggests that many untrained instructors don’t tweak routines for students. Morgan applies less straining poses for her senior citizen classes than she does for her younger, college-age classes.

“Instructors have to consider their students, look to their needs so they don’t get injured,” says Morgan.

Becoming certified through Yoga Alliance includes learning techniques, methodology, anatomy and physiology, yoga philosophy and ethics and a practicum. Instructors learn how to avoid injury and accommodate their student’s changing needs.




Krejci makes sure students are doing poses properly in a way that suits each individual’s abilities and needs.

 

Instructor: ‘You’re putting yourself at greater risk of injury’ 

What is ayurveda?
Ayurveda is the traditional medicine of India, which originated there more than 5,000 years ago.
Ayurveda emphasizes re-establishing balance in the body through diet, lifestyle, exercise and body cleansing, and focuses on the health of the mind, body and spirit.

—Cathy Wong, licensed naturopathic doctor and American College of Nutrition-certified nutrition specialist.
Seemingly more concerning than uncertified instructors and yoga at home, is the introduction of new yoga hybrid designed to get your heart rate up and burn calories.

Though Shape magazine has reported these new hybrids as “a way to wake up a stale (yoga) routine as well as your muscles,” those partaking may wake up to strained muscles.

For one such hybrid yoga called “hot” yoga, the room is heated to 95-100 degrees. The heat supposedly lets your muscles warm up to get deeper into the stretches.

“What they’re really doing,” says Trnka, also an ayurvedic practitioner, “is overriding the neurological mechanism in your body that tells you when you’ve gone too far. So you’re putting yourself at greater risk of injury by over stretching. When you put yourself in that hot environment it tends to aggravate heat-related conditions whether that’s anger, anxiety, insomnia. It doesn’t hold with anything in yoga that’s positive.”

Same physical practice, different mindset

So why are these types of strenuous activities being coupled with yoga?

Though it’s the same physical practice, the West has taken this Eastern practice and turned it into an exercise rather than a tool for meditation.

“There are big differences in how you view yoga,” says Morgan. “If you just see (yoga) as another exercise, then it really isn’t accomplishing what you’re setting out to do with the mind-body, mindfulness experience.”


Krejci leads her students into a meditative pose.



High intensity appeals to Americans

“People want what they want, not what they need,” says Neumann. “We’re a fast-paced, high pressure, materialistic society that doesn’t always step back and think about the consequences of those actions and things that we bring into our lives.”

So, according to Neumann, high-intensity exercises like hot and power yoga appeal to Americans.

Appealing as high intensity yoga may be, “more strenuous types of yoga, like ‘power’ yoga, don’t lend itself to the original meanings of what yoga is about,” says Morgan.

Hybrids not the only yoga to be wary of

Yoga hybrids originate from more traditional styles. Hot yoga was developed from the original bikram yoga, in which a room is heated to induce sweating and muscle relaxation, mimicking the Indian climate. Most power yoga is modeled on the ashtanga style yoga, a more vigorous yoga practice, says Morgan.

Though Morgan says it’s natural for instructors to take a yoga practice and tweak it, she’s also aware of the injuries these intense original and hybrid styles produce.

“Instructors do and should tweak those styles of yoga, I know I have,” says Morgan. “Those people who don’t want to get hurt will start teaching it another way.”

 


A student sinks deep into her yoga pose.

 

Injuries cause threat of federal regulation

According to an article on New York State Sen. Eric T. Schneiderman’s Web site, due to the bad name and injuries hybrid yoga is producing, states are beginning to look into regulation of yoga teacher-training schools. Instructors would need certification before teaching yoga, and the safety and certification of yoga teacher-training programs would be supervised.

Some states are already regulating yoga schools.

According to Schneiderman’s Web site article, many states are using educational laws meant for vocational schools to examine yoga teacher-training schools. New York state attempted to suspend 80 yoga schools through educational laws last year, and Michigan gave yoga schools a week to become state certified or close operations.

There are nearly 1,000 yoga schools nationwide.

Local instructors oppose regulation

Neumann believes yoga isn’t meant to be federally regulated.

“I believe if people knew the true yoga that well-trained instructors know, the topic of regulation would never have to come up,” says Neumann.

Trnka can identify with both sides of the issue.

“I see the result of poor or inadequate training,” says Trnka, “but at the same time some of the most amazing teachers I’ve had were not certified. They had just been practicing for many, many years—it was a part of who they were. So should they not be able to teach? It’s tough.”

Public demands hybrid yoga

Soulista has hot yoga on its upcoming schedule in hopes that it can suggest introductory courses first with proper instruction to avoid injury, while meeting public demands.

Five Element has chosen not to include hybrid yoga on its schedule and has no plans for doing so in the future.

“No, I won’t offer any (hybrid) yoga,” says Trnka. “I won’t even consider it. I feel like I need to be really clear about what I offer and what people are going to experience rather than just trying to observe the outward tide of popularity.”

Trnka has seen even advanced clients come in with injuries from hybrid yoga workouts.


This pose was one of the hardest for Krejci’s class. Many students kept falling off balance. Using blocks helps beginners stay balanced.



Intense styles of yoga short lived in Spirit Room

Intense styles of yoga haven’t lasted long at the Spirit Room.

“Though we get a few calls for it every month, we’re not looking for it, and we’ve had it,” says Morgan.

Morgan’s watched instructors begin with power yoga and years later seen the same instructors doing just the simple poses and doing them right.

The Sprit Room had bikram yoga for three months before the instructor moved to a new location. Since then, says Morgan, the instructor has changed his practice and is working with softer positions that use muscles instead of joints.

 


Even seemingly simple yoga poses can work and strengthen core muscles.

 

“Even the people who are teaching a power yoga become more gentle as they spend time with it and they begin to see that the benefit is not from that extreme exercise but from the mindfulness in doing the postures correctly,” says Morgan.

As far as public demand Mogan says “they can get it somewhere else and that’s fine with us because we like what we’re doing.”

Morgan believes that if people begin with strenuous hybrid yoga and start to understand what yoga is really about, they will probably switch to a different, more mindful yoga class.

Hybrid yoga not a daily practice

All three instructors agree that yoga hybrids should never be practiced more than once or twice a week and never without proper instruction.

Neumann suggests first coming to at least a few introductory classes to find the proper depth of stretches and alignment of movements before practicing any yoga hybrids or doing yoga at home.

Morgan agrees with Neumann. “Before people go into a power yoga class they should definitely have spent quite a bit of time working through the individual asanas (body positions) so they know how to do them properly.”

 


Krejci takes students through a series of stretching poses as the class gets warm.

 

According to Morgan, students don’t get the postures right during strenuous yoga classes because they move through the positions so fast they are always trying to catch up and can’t focus on the individual positions.

“If you want to use the physical postures to get fit and get flexible,” says Trnka, “it will do that for you, but you’re really missing out on a huge opportunity.”

Trnka suggests regularly practicing yoga six or seven days a week because it’s nourishing, bringing mind, body and breath into harmony.

 

Sandbagging off to slow start despite early preparations

Posted on by
Reply

By Misty Irving
MSUM Mass Comm Major

With hopes of getting an early start on predicted flooding this spring, Fargo and Moorhead started sandbagging at a site in each city on March 1. Fargo leaders hope to make 1 million sandbags before spring, with an objective of 100,000 per day.

On Monday, only 100 volunteers who were able to turn out 35,000 sandbags at “Sandbag Central,” Fargo’s garbage utility building.

The cities depended largely upon the assistance of college-aged students during last year’s record flood. City officials have expressed concern that students will be unwilling to help this year because they are burned out from the previous flood fight.

However, students from colleges and universities throughout both cities have articulated a strong sense of community and desire to lend a helping hand again this year.

College students express opinions about sandbagging

Kristin Bode, NDSU graduate and freshman at MSCTC

Q. Did you help sandbag last year?

A. Yes.

Q. Why did you decide to (or not to) help sandbag?

A. Because the thought of my mom’s house being in danger made me want to help.

Q. How long did you sandbag?

A. ‘Bout 10 hours total, I suppose.

Q. Will you sandbag again this year?

A. If it’s necessary. If they need volunteers, I’ve got all my gear. Plus, Dave (my boyfriend) is in the Guard, so if he gets activated, I’ll definitely want to help out.

Q. Do you think Fargo and Moorhead should depend upon its college-age citizens to bail their cities out during flood situations?

A. That’s the least college students can do. The new generation is so untitled and spoiled that they should have the responsibility of saving a city. Besides, that’s a bonus of having that kind of capable generation. The city shouldn’t rely on them every year because I think people will only be open to sandbagging for another two years. The civil engineers of the cities need to find a permanent solution.

Q. Any additional comments?

A. Even though a lot of college students helped sandbag, the entire community helped. I personally wanted to help because of all the people who already lost their homes.

Kayla Goebel, sophomore at MSCTC

Q. Did you help sandbag last year?

A. Yes, I sure did.

Q. Why did you decide to (or not to) help sandbag?

A. I decided to because school was cancelled, and I felt like our city needed the help.

Q. How long did you sandbag?

A. Seven days straight, I think.

Q. Will you sandbag again this year?

A. Yeah, probably.

Q. Why or why not?

A. Depends on school and work. But if our city needs it, I will be there.

Q. Do you think Fargo and Moorhead should depend upon its college-age citizens to bail their cities out during flood situations?

A. No. I think this year students may not step up like they did last year. The city/state needs to figure out a more permanent answer. I also don’t think the city “depends” on just college-age citizens. It’s depending on all of its citizens. And I think, after this year, a lot of people will be over it and looking for a permanent answer.

Q. Any additional comments?

A. I actually enjoyed all the hours I sandbagged last year. I met a lot of people who were fun to be around, and it reminded a lot of us that there is nothing wrong with hard work.

Jena Smedshammer, senior at NDSU

Q. Did you help sandbag last year?

A. Yes. I filled sandbags and built dikes with them.

Q. Why did you decide to (or not to) help sandbag?

A. I wanted to help out the community.

Q. How long did you sandbag?

A. Five full days.

Q. Will you sandbag again this year?

A. Yep!

Q. Why or why not?

A. I want to help out again and hopefully help the cities of Fargo and Moorhead.

Q. Do you think Fargo and Moorhead should depend upon its college-age citizens to bail their cities out during flood situations?

A. I think that the Fargo-Moorhead area should rely on any citizen who is able to help out. People of all ages can help because there is so much that needs to be done.

Brady Edwards, senior at UND

Q. Did you help sandbag last year?

A. Yes.

Q. Why did you decide to (or not to) help sandbag?

A. Even though West Fargo was safe because of the diversion, I have many family and friends that needed the help both in and around the Fargo-Moorhead area. My uncle lives just north of Moorhead, and their subdivision was basically an island. So I spent my time there for the most part. They were in danger of losing their homes, and I didn’t want it to happen, so I helped. If my house/neighborhood was in danger, people would show up to help out. So why not return the favor?

Q. How long did you sandbag?

A. I can’t remember exactly, but it was at least four days.

Q. Will you sandbag again this year?

A. If it’s necessary, I will. It’s still too early to know for sure.

Q. Why or why not?

A. I’ll do it for the same reasons as last year.

Q. Do you think Fargo and Moorhead should depend upon its college-age citizens to bail their cities out during flood situations?

A. I don’t think they really have a choice at this point. At the same time, college students are just a portion of the people that helped. I think most students understand that, until a permanent solution is built, they will be called on in emergency situations. And they will have classes cancelled if it’s necessary. If they have nothing to do, it’s their responsibility to help out. That’s what being part of a community is all about. And the last time I checked, area colleges are included in that community.

Clint Kliewer, senior at MSUM

Q. Did you help sandbag last year?

A. Yes.

Q. Why did you decide to (or not to) help sandbag?

A. I would’ve felt guilty if I had not helped.

Q. How long did you sandbag?

A. From like 1 a.m. until 4:30 a.m. (one day).

Q. Will you sandbag again this year?

A. Possibly. If classes are cancelled.

Q. Why or why not?

A. Same reason.

Q. Do you think Fargo and Moorhead should depend upon its college-age citizens to bail their cities out during flood situations?

A. No. It’s OK to rely on them in extreme situations, but a long-term solution is needed.

Q. Any additional comments?

A. I was only able to help sandbag once because my parents’ house was in the evacuation zone, and we had to haul all of the stuff from the basement to the lake.

Brad Kvamme, NDSU graduate and freshman at MSUM

Q. Did you help sandbag last year?

A. Yes’m.

Q. Why did you decide to (or not to) help sandbag?

A. My uncle lives in an area that got flooded in Moorhead.

Q. How long did you sandbag?

A. Five days? About eight hours each day.

Q. Will you sandbag again this year?

A. Yep.

Q. Why or why not?

A. I’d want help if it was my house in danger of getting flooded.

Q. Do you think Fargo and Moorhead should depend upon its college-age citizens to bail their cities out during flood situations?

A. Nope. It should be a community effort.

Q. Any additional comments?

A. Besides the politics involved with flood prevention? No.

Perhaps the cities will be able to call on its university and college citizens once again this spring to bail out the communities of Fargo and Moorhead. According to city officials, sandbagging will occur from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday until the ultimate goal of 1 million sandbags is reached.  For more information on aiding in the flood fight, visit the City of Fargo Web site.