Editors Note: Immediately after President Joe Biden left the stage in the Yellowjacket Union Promethean reporter Drew Kerner was able to ask some student attendees about their immediate thoughts on his appearance and what it meant to them and the Northland.
Allie Gronulnd
Q: So how was this whole experience for you being a student on the ambassador panel?
A: Yeah absolutely, it was crazy. Oh my gosh, I mean they told us like, on Monday, and none of us knew where we were gonna say. And the next thing we know we’re shaking hands with Dr. Jill Biden and her husband. That was nuts! That was crazy! It was, then like, crazy. It was so cool. So cool.
Q: What do you think as a student is important about the infrastructure bill?
A: I’m really excited about it. I think that it’s really going to be good for our area. I mean, we rely so much on the Blatnik and Bong bridge, you know, so it’s important that we’re finally going to get them fixed soon. We have to use one of the two to get us where we need to go over in Duluth. I mean, some of us go over there all the time because we work or we live over there in Duluth. It’s used all the time so we need those bridges. That’s why this bill is important to us so we can just commute.
John Cano
Q: So how was this whole experience for you being a student on the ambassador panel?
A: I mean it was pretty cool. Definitely overwhelming. I don’t know if that was the lights or the actual experience. Yeah it was nice to hear him talk off script. It was definitely like feeling, like I can actually feel the words that he said for the most part and I was excited. I feel more energized to like to do more cool shit because of the experience. Like it wasn’t from just meeting the president, but just being in that room when cool shit was said. Like what a mark of super privilege and luck that we have to be here and to just sit up there and be noticed by all of these people through those cameras. We were just super lucky to exist in this place and to be able to just do whatever we want to do.
Q: What do you think as a student is important about the infrastructure bill?
A: All of it. Like everything was important, especially for me who wants to work in the government. I think every bit of it is important. Whether it’s the infrastructure of physical buildings, or what I think is equally important like the internet. Like it’s cool that one goal of this bill is for everyone to get broadband in areas where the internet is still almost unreachable. Like that’s a huge game changer for everyone. It allows everyone to go to school or even learn skills from off the internet that wouldn’t normally be accessible to them. That’s just awesome.
Riley Hinnenkamp
Q: So how was this whole experience for you being a student on the ambassador panel?
A: It was absolutely fantastic. It was pleasant to be in the same room as it, actually an honor.
Q: What do you think as a student is important about the infrastructure bill?
A: I feel that’s important to us. Like of course the Blatnik and Bong bridge connects our city with Duluth. But everywhere else, like Biden said, up to 61 years of bridges being up they’re starting to get corroded and everything like that. So I feel like this bill will finally start to fix all the bridges around here. Just in case we don’t have to experience that incident where the bridge collapses like I-35, you know? So this bill will help prevent that happening in our area.
