A special sesquicentennial Founders Day
“Today we celebrate 150 years of preparing individuals to live life on purpose for the common good,” St. Olaf College President Susan Rundell Singer told campus community members who gathered for a special Founders Day chapel service on November 14 to mark the St. Olaf Sesquicentennial. “It’s an exciting moment to look back and boldly imagine the future.”
Following the service, St. Olaf students, faculty, and staff were invited to enjoy birthday cupcakes in Buntrock Commons Crossroads in a celebration hosted by the St. Olaf Alumni and Family Board and the St. Olaf Fund Board.
While there, they could peruse a collaborative, digital timeline created by students in Professor of Norwegian Kari Lie Dorer’s Life on the Hill first-year seminar. Their work, which was supported by Lead Archivist Kristell Benson and Instructional Technologist Sara Lynnore, was displayed on six large screens that highlighted different time periods of the college’s history.
Cupcakes in the shape of Ole the Lion during the Founders Day reception. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
Campus community members enjoy the cupcake reception. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
Campus community members enjoy the cupcake reception. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
President Susan Rundell Singer speaks at the Founders Day chapel service. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
The Founders Day chapel service program. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
Students present their digital timelines of college history. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
Students present their digital timelines of college history. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
Students present their digital timelines of college history. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
Students present their digital timelines of college history. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20 
Students present their digital timelines of college history. Photo by Steven Garcia ’20
In her address, Rundell Singer emphasized that the college’s sesquicentennial is an important moment to be intentional about including more voices in the college’s origin story and history.
She noted that a group of faculty and staff have been researching the stewardship of the land in the local area by the Wahpekute Band of the Dakota Nation, and St. Olaf is now working with the Minnesota Historical Society to delve more deeply into the history of the land on which the college is situated. She encouraged members of the campus community to visit the Why Treaties Matter exhibit in the Center for Art and Dance Link, and noted that action steps such as the creation of the new Indigenous Student Affordability Commitment are important moving forward.
“As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month, it’s a time to reflect on the stewardship of the land by the Wahpekute Band of the Dakota Nation for time immemorial,” she said.
St. Olaf is similarly working to understand more about the Norwegian American community at the time of the college’s founding, Rundell Singer noted, and to include more voices from throughout the college’s history. Having this full understanding of the past will help propel St. Olaf toward future progress.
“The through thread for 150 years has been a clear sense of who we are and our steadfast navigation towards our true north,” she said. Listen to her full remarks above.