The Minnesota Club is back with new leadership, lefse, broom ball on ice and more
By Katie Schleiss
As freshman Caitlin Yilek was trying to decide whether or not to attend the University of Portland, she thought about a lot of different factors. Having lived in the town of Stillwater, Minn. her entire life, she wanted to go to the West Coast for a change of scenery. Yilek was also impressed by all of the programs that the University of Portland offers students.
Although she has traveled thousands of miles from home, Yilek is not the only student on campus from Minnesota. Like many freshmen who came to the University of Portland from Minnesota, she is a member of the recently formed Minnesota Club.
The Minnesota Club was originally formed during the 2003-2004 school year, but it disbanded after one year when new leadership was not selected and interest waned. This year, however, the club as been brought back and is headed by senior Doug Pederson.
"This club will bring an opportunity for students from Minnesota to meet each other and make friends with people from their home state and build a sense of community among other Minnesotan students," Pederson said.
The Minnesota Club has only had one meeting and is still being organized. However, Pederson is enthusiastic about the club and the events being planned for the future. At this point, there are no official meetings times. There will be one more meeting before winter break on a date yet to be announced.
Some of the events being planned include broom ball-hockey using shoes instead of skates, and making lefse, a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread spread with butter and sugar. There are also plans to host a bratwurst night.
Norwegian-Americans make up approximately 17 percent of the Minnesota state population and practice these culinary customs, such as making lefse, to keep their Norwegian ancestry alive. Lefse is a popular treat in Minnesota. One Minnesotan tortilla factory makes lefse once a month on its tortilla equipment. Additionally, the town of Starbuck, Minn., is home to the world's largest lefse, approximately 9 feet and 8 inches wide.
Pederson came to the University of Portland in the first place because he, like Yilek, was interested in living on the West Coast. He was also attracted to the AROTC program and engineering school. He said that he recently spoke with the Rev. Jim Lies, C.S.C. and Martin Williams, associate director of admissions, about recreating the club. Both Lies and Williams are originally from Minnesota.
"I talked to them and we had a get together and decided to recreate the club this year. There are quite a few students from Minnesota, although not as many students from states such as Washington and California. There are more freshmen from Minnesota than seniors and there are about 25 students over the course of four years," Pederson said.
Yilek said that she was originally contacted about attending the University of Portland through Williams. Yilek was able to get in contact with Williams because he was traveling around the Midwest trying to recruit students to come to the University of Portland.
"Martin Williams is originally from Minnesota and so he spends time and effort there trying to recruit students. Martin Williams knew my guidance counselor at my high school and I was contacted through my guidance counselor about coming to the University of Portland," Yilek said.
Yilek is double majoring in Spanish and biology with a minor in German. She said that she was attracted to the language program at the University of Portland because she believes that there are excellent study-abroad programs. She has applied to the Salzburg program next year, and since she is also majoring in Spanish, she plans to study abroad in either Spain or Mexico.
Yilek said that she was surprised to see how many students from Minnesota are here.
"There are two boys from my high school that are freshmen here as well. There are also two or three other people that I know from my group of friends that are from Minnesota as well," Yilek said.
She thinks that the freshmen from Minnesota have built a strong community with each other.
"We know who each other are. This is important for making each other feel at home in a new state," Yilek said.
