It’s a collision of energy that delights anyone observing, each drawn to its light for reasons both obvious and intensely personal.

Maybe it’s poetry, or maybe it’s providence.

But the meeting of seemingly opposing forces is creating something spectacular in other parts of this border town, too. The magic is made of one cup of coffee, one shared car ride, one page at a time. Here, a book club brings rural community members and urban college students together, meeting each person wherever they are and challenging them to think differently. The book club is one of a number of experiential learning opportunities offered at Augsburg University that put into practice just what it means to pursue one’s calling and build a meaningful life and career.

Removing obstacles

What’s become known as the Anti-Racist Book Club began as the brainchild of Augsburg alumni and Hallock residents Kristin Eggerling ’89 and Paul Blomquist ’88. For some time, the couple had been hosting a club, welcoming their neighbors into discussions of social justice issues. But the group grew to include current Auggies when Timothy Pippert, the Joel Torstenson Endowed Professor of Sociology, began reminiscing about a pre-pandemic writing retreat that gave him time for thought and reflection.

“I started talking to Darcey [Engen ’88] about it, about how I missed it, and she said, ‘You need to meet two of my friends,’” Pippert said.

Engen, professor and chair of the Augsburg theater department and founder of the theater company Sod House, helped get all the parties involved in conversation. Eggerling—a writer, editor, and community activist—found comfort and friends at the Hallock library when she first moved to the town after working for a time in the Twin Cities. Hallock is where Blomquist grew up, and where he returned after college to run his family’s Ford dealership after his father’s unexpected death. Their Augsburg experience was imprinted on them on an almost cellular level, and it eventually led to them celebrating things in Hallock that some overlook or take for granted, while also asking critical questions and inviting others in the community to engage in challenging conversations.

When Pippert heard of the couple’s work, it wasn’t long before he asked if the group could join them.

The couple said yes. With that, planning began in earnest. What book? When? Who will be involved? How? The cumulative efforts of that organizing came together with a Fall 2021 trip, funded by Board of Regents member Mark S. Johnson ’75, that brought the city-dwelling students to the small country community that sits within 20 miles of the Canadian border.

Welcome to Hallock, population 981.

“One of the things we were trying to do was to focus not just on the anti-racism theme, but to explore the urban and rural divide. Many of our students don’t really have a sense of what it’s like to live in or know many people who come from a town of 900 people,” Pippert said.

Conversely, folks who’ve spent their entire lives in and near a place where Friday night is synonymous with fish fry don’t necessarily understand why someone would want to live in a place where a high school can be larger than their entire community.

“When it comes to this idea between urban and rural, there’s a big divide in lots of ways,” Engen said. “Yes, of course, there are often issues around race, but there are economic issues, too. And in greater Minnesota, there are people who are struggling and need resources, the same as in the Twin Cities.”

What’s more, Engen said, specialty skill sets aren’t simply the purview of urbanites. Visiting a small farming community, and actually communicating with the residents there, is a great reminder that gifts and talents are universally distributed.

“To not forget there are artists, writers, sociologists, lawyers in greater Minnesota, all over the state—people who are born in the Twin Cities don’t think about that,” Engen said.

Being exposed to new ideas affects how a person thinks, maybe just for that moment. But sometimes the experience informs a lifetime.

Lydia Rikkola ’22 grew up in Minnesota’s cities and their suburbs.

There were some stereotypes about rural Minnesota that she expected to see when the book club visitors took a tour of Hallock. Rikkola doubted there would be much racial and ethnic diversity, and she was right: Census data confirms 96% of Hallock residents are white.

“It’s very homogenous,” Rikkola said. “But some of the things that surprised me were how open-minded and aware some of the community members were. The woman who runs the food shelf … just to see her passion about social justice and the need for food, that food insecurity is in more places than just the Twin Cities. That was really cool to see her acknowledge that and do everything in her power to address it. It was incredible to see that kind of attention and care and detail.”

‘It became about the meal’

The evening of the group’s tour in Hallock and conversations with various community members, Eggerling and Blomquist invited the whole book club to their house for dinner.

It’s hard to be intimidating when you’re eating.

“Everyone becomes a little more vulnerable and willing to share themselves,” Eggerling said. “We were sharing food and stories, laughing at our cat. It wasn’t rushed; we were able to talk about a variety of things. Some really great connections did come about.”

Engen agreed.

“Yes, absolutely, it became about the meal.”

People sat on the floor, on the couch—wherever an open space presented itself. And the easy environment meant everyone had a chance to just breathe, relax, and reflect.

“I’ll never forget the dinner we had,” Rikkola said. “There were like 30 people stuffed in this house. It was buffet style, and the hosts were so kind as to pay attention to the fact that some of us are vegan, and it was a real home-cooked meal.

“The conversations were so rich. The adults in the room were so interested in seeing us grow, and we talked about everything—politics, social issues, life issues.” The following morning, the group all returned to the Eggerling-Blomquist home for much-needed coffee and a hot breakfast, before a planned tour of the town’s school.

“During part of that morning conversation, one of the students said, ‘I thought all you folks in small towns were hicks and racists’—they voiced that, they felt comfortable sharing that. And that started some really good conversations,” Pippert said.

Taking students out of the classroom and trying something somewhat unknown takes a bit of a leap of faith, Pippert said.

“There are things you can’t control with it, certainly. One of the things we were really cognizant of was that we didn’t want to put students in a position of teaching; it’s not their responsibility to teach the folks up there, and it’s not those folks’ responsibility to teach the students—it has to be about relationships.

“It took us a while to realize that’s where the real work is and the real opportunity: in those relationships. Meeting people who aren’t anything like yourself, and talking and learning not only on the big issues of race, but on all things: Where do you eat in a town that size? How far away is the nearest hospital? The value of experiential learning is that it can be confusing, and it can be scary, rewarding, fulfilling, and life-changing.”

Rikkola said she’s proof of that.

“Through conversation comes growth. It’s so easy to ‘other’ but going on a trip like this stops the ‘othering,’ because the ‘other’ is feeding you, the ‘other’ is caring for you, the shared humanity breaks down barriers,” Rikkola said. “They explain their perspective, and you explain yours and really listen.

“Getting taken out of your environment is so necessary. If you only have friends with the same opinions you’re never challenged, you can’t really learn; you won’t grow.”

Best-kept secret

Experiential learning has been a core feature of Augsburg’s academic framework for more than 100 years. In the late 1800s Augsburg’s second president, Georg Sverdrup, required students to have pre-ministerial experience with congregations around Minneapolis. Today 100% of undergraduate students participate in some form of experiential learning. It takes shape for many students through internships, study abroad, research, and community engagement, in addition to the hands-on components already built into many academic courses.

Joe Connelly is the principal torchbearer for the practice, serving as experiential education specialist with Augsburg’s Center for Global Education and Experience. Connelly said these types of experiences are essential and always relevant for students. The experiences are also part of the university’s thinking about how a liberal arts education should prepare students for vibrant careers addressing challenges in their communities and around the world.

“If there’s one best-kept secret, it would be just what an important role Augsburg plays to provide experiential learning for their own students and students around the country. This is work that is so closely tied to the mission of Augsburg—and creating vocation—and this is work that has been going on for decades,” Connelly said.

And while the opportunities have always mattered, today’s global uncertainties provide perhaps even more motivation to make sure experiential learning continues, he said.

“We provide students the opportunity to immerse themselves in other peoples’ lives, in other peoples’ realities,” Connelly said. “They share a meal, sit around a table and hear other peoples’ stories about their experiences with war or other hardship. We understand that life is very complicated, very nuanced. Things are not black and white; there are a lot of sides to it, and it’s not cut and dry. Through experiential education, students understand that’s what life is—it’s not easy answers; it’s not a yes or no.”

Science backs what these educators know: Moving out of a traditional classroom setting and into a learning experience can be challenging, but the effort is worth the work. In a 2019 study published by the Lithuanian Science Council in Public Health Magazine, researchers Viktorija Piščalkienė and Hans Ingemann Lottrup found that, “Experiential learning and experience reflection hold a significant role as an educational methodology, and it is a shared value to prepare students for the challenges in a changing world by developing professionals who can think critically and reflectively.”

Having time to reflect is what motivated Pippert to go north. Associate Professor Joe Underhill was moved to go north, and south.

Underhill, Augsburg’s environmental studies director, wanted time and space to put big questions to his students. Specifically, he wanted to engage his students in more than conversation about climate change—he wanted them to find ways to combat it. And since big questions can benefit from having big space to work within, Underhill turned to the Mississippi River.

“The ideas or inspiration behind the program have to do with the value of direct embodied experience as a way to learn, rather than reading about something,” he said. “You are seeing, feeling, smelling, hearing. Seeing the beauty of the river and the challenges, it sticks with people, it hits home, and it is the kind of thing you don’t forget. If you want to learn about something, there’s no better way than to experience it firsthand.”

‘I can do so much more’

Launched in 2015, the most recent River Semester ran for 101 days in Fall 2021. The team started with a trip to the Boundary Waters, where they paddled and camped for several days while they got to know one another a bit better, learned more about what the semester would hold, and came to grips with spending four months away—far away.

There was a mix of rowing, sailing, and making use of shuttle vehicles that occasionally carried the group from one part of their journey into another. And the group camped on islands or in municipal river parks, eating mostly what they made on cookstoves.

It was an experience that Zoe Barany ’23 won’t forget.

“I have never in my life found a community like I did when I was on the river,” Barany said. “People were so generous and kind with their resources and their authentic love for the environment. We had the ability to take agency and get things done. I just found a home out there.”

As an environmental studies major, Barany said they first fell in love with the promise of nature while in high school. But the River Semester opened their mind to so much more.

“I come from a place of privilege. I’m a white environmentalist, but I have still struggled with things to work through,” Barany said. “Being out there, it challenges you. It reveals things you don’t want to see about yourself. It’s just honest.”

Barany said they specifically learned of the power of clear communication.

“In everyday life you can sweep things under the rug, but when you’re outside you have to go through things,” Barany said. “Sometimes I would lash out at people or be upset, or complain instead of enjoying the time we had. It challenged me to step up, be a leader, communicate, and speak on behalf of my needs and what I need to function in a group. Having that knowledge now is so empowering.”

Elias Wirz ’23 prepared for his River Semester with small trips in 2019 and 2020. There was never any question about making the 100-day journey.

“It’s one of the biggest reasons I chose Augsburg. There’s nothing like it that I’ve found. With the River Semester you get to see a part of the world that you would never see if you don’t do something like this. You get to learn about yourself and what you are capable of, on top of learning some super interesting coursework.”

Wirz said with every experience, the group just kept getting stronger.

“My biggest takeaway is that I believe I can do so much more than I ever could because of the River Semester. Being able to do something like this, you feel like you’re capable of so much more. You want to keep going, trying, testing your limits—if I can do this, what other great things can I do now?” Wirz said.

Some of that understanding came not only from the experience overall, but from the hundreds of small, seemingly innocuous moments along the way. It is in the accumulation of those moments—applying academic knowledge in practical ways and engaging with the people present—that experiential education transforms abstract ideas into real-world skills and understanding. That’s how Augsburg students become informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders.

“There’s a lot of good happening. In every city we went through, in every experience we had, I’m convinced that people are inherently good,” Barany said. “Now I want to serve, to continue this cycle of goodness.”

Top image: Professor Joe Underhill [back row] and students paddled hand-crafted catamarans during the River Semester. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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They both grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, and knew the family of Philando Castile, a Black man who was fatally shot by an officer during a 2016 traffic stop in nearby Falcon Heights.

“The interest in creating change started with Philando Castile. That was the initial gut punch,” Creighton said. “Flash forward to George Floyd in 2020, and it was like ripping off a Band-Aid to a wound that hasn’t healed. We decided we had to do something.”

Creighton, an accountant, and Frelix, who was in sales for Sony Electronics, left their stable day jobs in 2020. They teamed up with attorney Jazz Hampton, who is also an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, and the three Black men launched a new company providing a technology-based solution to de-escalate traffic stops by police.

Timely launch

The motto says it all: “Drive with an attorney by your side.”

TurnSignl provides real-time, on-demand legal guidance from attorneys to drivers, all while drivers’ smartphone cameras record the interaction. The mission is to protect drivers’ civil rights, de-escalate roadside interactions with police, and ensure both civilians and officers return home safely at the end of the day.

As is true of many startups, the three co-founders wear multiple hats. Hampton serves as CEO and general counsel. Creighton is the chief financial officer and chief operating officer while Frelix is the chief revenue officer and chief technology officer.

When Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in April, that only accelerated their pace to bring the app to market. “This has been an issue plaguing Black and brown communities,” Frelix said. “We’re thankful to have the ability and skill sets to get this off the ground.”

They introduced the TurnSignl app in May after they were able to leverage the public awareness of police stops ending tragically to raise more than $1 million to bring the app to market.

How TurnSignl works

Users open the app and immediately get connected to an attorney vetted by TurnSignl to guide them in order to de-escalate the encounter. Service launched in Minnesota and will be expanding to 10 states by the end of 2021. The founders also have created a foundation to provide service for those unable to pay for the app, which is available on the Apple and Google app stores. They expect the foundation to support 25% of the app’s user base.

While the app is intended for anyone, there is increasing attention to how Black drivers are treated by police.

Twin Cities NBC affiliate KARE 11 in May that new data shows that the majority of drivers pulled over this year by Minneapolis police for minor equipment violations are Black: Black drivers accounted for more than half of those stops despite making up only about 20% of the city’s residents, according to city data.

In St. Paul, Black drivers were almost four times more likely to be pulled over by police than white drivers, according to a Pioneer Press from 2016 to 2020. Asian, Latino, and Native American drivers were stopped at roughly the same rate as white drivers, the Pioneer Press reported.

The TurnSignl founders say their product is more than just an app. It’s a signal for change. “There’s no better opportunity to impact change than this moment, now,” Creighton said.

Defense attorney Taylor J. Rahm is one of the lawyers who has joined TurnSignl to be on call for motorists. “Anything we can do to make sure these situations are safe and that no one gets harmed is something I hope any lawyer would want to get involved with,” he said.

Sometimes, a motorist making sudden movements is interpreted as cause for alarm and can be construed by an officer as the driver going for a weapon or drugs, leading to potential conflict.

“With TurnSignl, you have a lawyer on the phone to help individuals know their rights but also importantly know how to handle the situation so nothing goes wrong,” Rahm said. “The benefit is that the officer knows that there’s an attorney on the phone telling the person, ‘This is what you should do during the stop.’”

The TurnSignl app has the potential to make traffic stops safer for police as well as motorists, said Mylan Masson, retired director of the Hennepin Technical College law enforcement program and a former Minneapolis Park Police officer. “Every traffic stop can be dangerous for police officers,” said the police training expert. The TurnSignal app “could give someone a calming sense that, ‘I’m not here alone.’”

Business owner Phil Steger offers the app as an employee benefit for his 14-person Brother Justus Whiskey Company in Minneapolis, believing TurnSignl’s attorneys can act as mediators to keep a traffic stop from escalating into danger.

“If you think you’ve been stopped unlawfully, most people don’t know that they still have to cooperate,” said Steger, who was previously an attorney for law firm Dorsey & Whitney. “You can still be taken to jail.”

A TurnSignl attorney can advise in real time: “Every defendant has the right, if they think they have been stopped unlawfully, to challenge the case in court later,” he said.

Business project for ‘the times we’re in’

As the TurnSignl founders prepared to launch the company, they turned to Augsburg’s MBA program to assist them in developing the business plan.

“A key part of the Augsburg MBA experience is that we want students to have practical experience and apply critical thinking,” said George Dierberger, associate business professor and director of the MBA program.

Students in the MBA program grapple with real-world challenges faced by local businesses via a management consulting project, which supported TurnSignl’s launch. This is just one of the many MBA program experiences in which students collaborate on projects, case studies, presentations, and simulations.

The TurnSignl project represents Augsburg’s goals to be socially conscious, said Mike Heifner ’21 MBA, who worked on the pricing strategy of the TurnSignl business plan. “This was a good example of how capitalism could bring social value to society,” he said.

Augsburg graduate student Stephanie Oliver ’21 MBA hopes the TurnSignl app will open new conversations and foster a different way of thinking about how police and civilians interact during traffic stops.

“This project was my first choice because of the times we’re in,” she said.

Oliver’s role in the MBA group was to analyze the research and data about traffic stops nationally by race. What she found was a system with inconsistent reporting about race and traffic stops across states. What was clear was that even after accounting for those inconsistencies, the disparities were apparent in stops involving people of color.

One of the studies she reviewed was the , which analyzed data from nearly 100 million traffic stops and found significant racial disparities in policing and, in some cases, evidence that bias also played a role.

This didn’t surprise Oliver. Her husband is Black and was frequently pulled over when they first moved to their Twin Cities suburb years ago. Once, the police even questioned her then 5-year-old daughter about whether he was actually her father.

“I ask why I’m being pulled over when officers approach my vehicle, and they get angry at me,” Oliver said. “But I have a right to know why I’m pulled over.”

She worries about her two young Black sons but is optimistic that the TurnSignl app can start to change the dynamics during a police stop. “I know when my daughter goes to Augsburg this fall, I’m going to get this app for her.”

The TurnSignl app is available on the Apple and Google app stores.

Data on drivers and police traffic stops

Key findings from the national data research Stephanie Oliver ’21 MBA gathered for the TurnSignl business plan:

• On average, legal intervention death rates for Black men, were 4.7 times higher than those of white men from 1979 to 1988, and 3.2 times higher from 1988 to 1997. (2002 American Journal of Public Health study)
• Black men are 3 times more likely than other races to die from the use of police force. Oliver said this was particularly alarming as Black males make up only about 6% of the total U.S. population. (2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics Data 2010–14)
• When driver race/ethnicity was visible, Black drivers were nearly 20% more likely to be the subject of a discretionary traffic stop than were white drivers. (2014 San Diego State University research)
• Among males aged 10 years or older who were killed by police use of force, the mortality rate among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals was 2.8 and 1.7 times higher, respectively, than that among white individuals. (Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the Use of Lethal Force by U.S. Police 2010–14)
• Search rates for whites are significantly lower, at around 18% of the traffic stops, while search rates for Blacks and Hispanics total about 82%. (Compiled from Stanford Open Policing Project data for Connecticut; Illinois; North Carolina; Rhode Island; South Carolina; Texas; Washington; and Wisconsin; and municipal police departments in Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Plano, Texas; San Diego; and San Francisco)

Top image: Andre Creighton ’19 MBA (left) and Mychal Frelix ’19 MBA were motivated to leave their stable jobs in 2020 to focus on launching the TurnSignl app. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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An image of Augsburg’s campus and the Minneapolis skyline in 1967, stitched together from three frames of an aerial camera shot in a promotional film. (Archive photo)

Part of Augsburg’s campus—including Old Main, two residence halls, and the Norman and Evangeline Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion—in 2018. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

Auggies shoot hoops in Old Main gymnasium, circa 1945. (Archive photo)

Augsburg women’s basketball plays against the College of Saint Benedict in Si Melby Hall, 2018. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

The Augsburg community poses in front of Old Main in 1931. (Archive photo)

The Class of 2023 gathers in front of Old Main in 2019. This fall, group photos are planned for the Class of 2024 and the Class of 2025. (Photo by Tom Roster)

The camera club in 1957 included [L to R] Jerry Matison ’59, Stan Quanbeck ’59, and James Nichols ’58. (Archive photo)

An Auggie wears virtual reality goggles in a new media class in 2019. (Courtesy photo)

Georg Sverdrup and Sven Oftedal, who each served as Augsburg’s president, speak at a gathering of students in the first Old Main building (which was demolished to build Science Hall and Sverdrup Hall), 1897. (Archive photo)

A procession in a chapel service January 24, 2020. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

Augsburg women’s track and field student-athletes prepare for a race in 1985. (Archive photo)

Augsburg women’s track and field student-athlete hits the track 2021. (Photo by Don Stoner)

Students work in a television studio, possibly in the basement of Memorial Hall, in 1976. (Archive photo)

Students at a video shoot in Foss Center in 2019. (Courtesy photo)

Students attend a Pan-Afrikan Student Union cookout in Murphy Square in 1998. (Archive photo)

Students attend a Multicultural Student Services event in the park to welcome students back to campus in 2019. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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The new department aligns with Augsburg’s mission and responds to a proposal developed by a group of students, faculty, and staff that was presented to the administration and approved by the faculty this year. A group of students, led by Black women, made similar (as-yet unrealized) demands after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

The department aims to meet the needs of today’s students with culturally relevant courses and pedagogy that both centers and equips them to think critically about their experience in the world. It will advance the university’s public mission through connections with the community.

This year, the plan is to hire three new faculty in Pan-African, Latinx, and Asian American studies. Once they’re hired, Augsburg will review next steps, as well as how other departments can connect their own courses and faculty to the new department.

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Augsburg invites you to visit our beautiful Minneapolis campus to experience the diverse array of trees on a self-guided tour, complete with a map and descriptive signs, or a guided tour.

The urban arboretum was made possible by generous donors and continues to provide environmental benefits, educational opportunities, and aesthetic appeal for Augsburg and the surrounding community.

• Find a list of trees and a self-guided walking tour map, covering Augsburg’s campus and Murphy Square, at .
• Want an in-person walking or golf cart tour of the urban arboretum, Hagfors Center, or other campus features? Contact Interim Vice President for Advancement Amy Alkire at alkirea@augsburg.edu.

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“With these courses, students will learn with and from writers at the top of their field, seeing what it takes to have pieces published and performed,” said Patrick Mulvihill, Augsburg’s assistant provost for global education and experience, in an interview with .

Top image: An Augsburg student tours the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. (Photo by Stephen Geffre)

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The center’s focus is on the practice and psychology of innovation and entrepreneurship. Cory Erickson, an instructor in Augsburg’s Master of Business Administration program, leads the center.

The center provides practical educational material for Augsburg students and alumni through a variety of events and activities. These opportunities include:

• a speaker series
• cooperative projects between student teams and local companies
• support for students who are building organizations that impact social causes through innovation and entrepreneurship
• support for student entrepreneurs
• the creation of student teams drawn from the science and business departments to solve problems for new startups
• student contests offering awards and potential funding for new ventures
• research and scholarship through a think tank
• the promotion of internships for students in the for-profit, nonprofit, and government sectors.

Top image: Instructor Cory Erickson leads the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. (Photo by Courtney Perry)

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The project will provide scholarships, internships, and research experiences for nearly 200 students over a five-year period beginning in the 2020–21 academic year at Augsburg, Century College, Minneapolis College, and Normandale Community College. These institutions will work together to provide seamless pathways for students to transfer from two-year to four-year STEM programs.

Scholarships of $7,500 to $10,000 will be awarded to students pursuing majors in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, food science, mathematics, and physics. These students will be connected to internships and research experiences through partner organizations SciTech, UpTurnships, and MnDRIVE, as well as through Augsburg’s undergraduate research programs.

This is the third phase of a program initiated by Augsburg and funded by the NSF. Grants in the prior phases funded scholarships for 111 STEM students, 100% of whom graduated and went on to pursue careers or continue their education in STEM fields.

The project will be led by Rebekah Dupont, Augsburg’s director of STEM programs and associate professor of mathematics, working in collaboration with principal investigators from the other participating institutions.

Top image: Associate Professor Rebekah Dupont is director of STEM programs at Augsburg. (Courtesy photo)

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Workplaces have struggled during the past year to navigate a digital, distanced work environment brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, social protests centered around racism and the unjust deaths of Black people at the hands of police have also brought greater attention to overwhelming disparities in economics, education, health care, housing, and public safety.

This year, the forum asks: What will it take to start a workplace revolution that moves us from talk to action?

Learn more and register to attend at .

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