A group of 17 NDSU students is set to journey to Zeeland, North Dakota, Oct. 14-15 for a service-learning project to paint Zeeland Hall, a 1936 Works Progress Administration building listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The students will be led by Tom Isern, University Distinguished Professor of history and director of the Center for Heritage Renewal.
“This paint job is important, first, because we are helping to restore and revitalize a great, historic building, a North Dakota treasure. There is added value, too, in that we are supporting a larger campaign to showcase the heritage resources and encourage heritage tourism in German-Russian country,” said Isern, who wrote the building’s nomination to the National Register along with Heather Fischer, lecturer of architecture and environmental design.
The students were organized under the auspices of the NDSU Center for Heritage Renewal and drawn from Isern’s The North American Plains course. They include Zachary Drechsel, Tyler Hanson, Sidney Owens, Robert Foresman, Tyler Borgerding, Alex Neuman, Nicholas Wright, Jessi Lagein, Rachel Voigt, Nathaniel Parks, Gabrielle Valenzuela, Cody Schmalz, Daniel Justeson, Nicholas Balsdon, Spencer Abbe, Stephen Johnson and Joe Hebert.
“It's always a good thing when you can put our students to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of a North Dakota community; it teaches citizenship in the most direct way possible,” Isern said. “This is a history lesson, too. Students are learning the importance of heritage buildings to small towns, and hearing about the rich history of community life that takes place in them.”
The McIntosh County Bank, which has a branch in Zeeland, supported the project with a $500 gift. Pinke Lumber, Wishek, North Dakota, is donating painting supplies, and an anonymous donor has bought the paint.
According to Isern, Zeeland residents have worked hard the past few years to restore and revitalize the historic hall. That work included re-roofing, with a grant from the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
“Our students will be fed and lodged during the expedition by citizens of Zeeland and the locality, who also are bringing equipment in support, and, I'm sure, joining in themselves,” Isern said.
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