By Con Marshall –
Chadron State College
As a
candidate for governor in Minnesota, Tim Walz wanted to unite the state as “One
Minnesota.” Following a successful campaign, Walz became the first Chadron
State College graduate ever elected governor of one of the 50 states. After
serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years, Walz was sworn in as
Minnesota’s 41st Governor Jan. 7 in St. Paul.
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| Tim Walz graduated from CSC in 1989 |
During
the 2018 election, Walz, a Democrat, received about 54 percent of the vote, or
nearly 300,000 more votes than his challenger, Jeff Johnson, a Hennepin County
commissioner. The 1,392,958 votes that he received are the most ever for a
gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota.
Walz,
54, was born in West Point, Nebraska, and spent most of his childhood in
Valentine. He moved with his parents, Jim and Darlene Walz, to Butte, Nebraska,
when he was a high school sophomore.
Walz
graduated from Chadron State in 1989 and spent the following year teaching
English and American history and culture in southern China. Afterward, he led
tours which included numerous western Nebraska residents to China several
summers.
Following
the year in China, Walz taught global geography in Alliance for six years.
During that time, he met his wife, Gwen, a native of Minnesota who also was
teaching in the Alliance schools. In 1997, the couple moved to Mankato, her
hometown, and he joined the faculty at West High School as a geography, history
and sociology teacher.
In
2002, he was one of six Minnesota teachers to receive a $10,000 award
recognizing their high performances and contributions to teaching. His award
was for Ethics in Education.
Walz
had joined the National Guard the summer after graduating from high school.
Soon after he had been honored, his teaching career was interrupted when the
First 125th Field Artillery Battalion from Minnesota that he had joined was
sent to Afghanistan during the early stages of a conflict there.
He
had served in the National Guard 24 years when he retired with the rank of
Command Sergeant Major. When he took office in the U.S. House, he became the
highest ranking retired enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress. Throughout
his tenure in Washington, he championed enhanced veterans’ benefits.
In
May 2014, Walz returned to Chadron State to give the commencement address and
also was presented the college’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
During
his talk, Walz said he was appreciative that his alma mater had provided middle
class families like his the opportunity to earn a college education.
“The
professors at this college wanted us to succeed,” Walz said. “The door was
always open for us to learn and to grow. We got a great base for future
success.
Two of Walz's siblings, Jeff, who lives in Florida, and Sandy Dietrich of Alliance, also graduated from Chadron State. Tim and Gwen have two children, Hope and Gus.
While
Walz is the first CSC alumni to become governor of a state, two graduates have
served as the governors of American Samoa, a U.S. territory, since 2003.
Togiola
(Tala) Tulafono, held the office for 10 years, and was succeeded by Matalasi
Moliga, the governor since 2013. They were among the two dozen or more American
Samoans who attended Chadron State in the 1960s and ‘70s. Tulafono graduated
from CSC in 1971 and Moliga in 1973.
