Guest Speaker in History

April 16 , 2008 – On Friday, March 28th, juniors in Ms. Van Pilsum's first hour American History class welcomed Dr. John Van Pilsum as a guest speaker. Dr. Van Pilsum came to "tell the students what life was really like on a farm during the 1920's and 30's and how the Great Depression devastated farmers who were very attached to their land which they lost to foreclosures."

The students learned how food was canned, how a typical farm and farm homestead was run and what Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to do to allieviate the suffering of farmers during the depression.

Dr. Van Pilsum's farm was in Iowa where he worked with his father until deciding to leave farm life to attend the University of Iowa to pursue his degrees in Biochemistry. He taught as a professor at the University of Minnesota for over forty years.

Dr. Van Pilsum is also a veteran of the second World War, and the students have asked him to come back to tell them what the war was like in the Pacific.