BEMIDJI — On any other day, the black gowns and caps would have been a bad idea.

Hundreds of young men and women in their graduation attire used their paper programs as fans and opened their robes to let a little breeze in on a hot, dry day that was cooled only slightly by the air conditioning inside the Sanford Center.

The arena was packed Friday with their family and friends — some who came from places like Moldova, Zimbabwe and Colombia — to see their graduates walk across the stage. Before the ceremony they enveloped each other in hugs and took selfies as they made sure to get everyone in the shot, squeezing together their smiling faces.

“Recently we’ve been challenged to think about what makes America great,” BSU President Richard Hanson told the students. “It’s not in a slogan. It’s not in a crazy political campaign. It’s you.”

Student Senate President Brittany Hull spoke about her years at school, doing icebreakers at freshman orientation and spelling out B-E-M-I-D-J-I at hockey games.

“It’s a cheesy slogan,” she said. “But who can disagree? Bemidji State: Best Decision Ever.”

The white programs continued to flap in the student section like a flock of doves when Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who was in the area visiting Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School in Bena, was announced as a surprise next speaker.

To read about Klobuchar’s visit to the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig High School, click here. 

She lauded BSU as “a community where … “perspectives expand and lifelong friends are made.” She talked about the role education played in her life, how it blazed her family a path out of the mines where her grandfather worked all his life.

“Your family, friends and teachers are placing the world in your hands,” she said. “You have to have the imagination to make the world a better place. I know you do.”

Kyle Farris

(218) 333-9798