The State Bar Association of North Dakota Fall 2015 Gavel Magazine | Page 21

I am so humbled, and so grateful, for the hard work and generous spirit of every single person who helped to make this happen. Every single worker—with Construction Engineers, with our subcontractors, with ICON and Stantec, with UND Facilities— we thank you. Every single legislator and every single executive official in state government who helped secure funding for the law school, we thank you. Every single attorney and every single judge who supported our project, we thank you. Every single donor who gave generously to further fund the project, we thank you. Every single faculty and staff member who went above and beyond to help in every way possible, we thank you. And every single student who trusted us to get this done on time and to make the law school a better place for you, we thank you. And a thousand thank yous are needed because we owe such an enormous debt of gratitude to all the people who helped get us to this place today—this much, much better place for UND School of Law. I’m so honored by the people who are here today—all of you present with us, sharing this occasion; our special guests, for your extraordinary contributions to the future of the law school; our speakers, Representative Oversen, Ms. Neset, President Kelley, Lt. Governor, Chief—the support you’ve shown the law school inspires the very best in our students, faculty, and staff. From those to whom much has been given, much is expected. Over the course of the building project, I’ve thanked many, many people many, many times. We are going to put this beautiful new building to very good use. Tusen takk—literally, a thousand thank yous. At the School of Law, we know that we need to repay our debt of gratitude by sustaining a high-quality program of legal education at an affordable price, so that we graduate effective, innovative, and ethical lawyers who will serve our communities, our country, and our world. Thank you. UND President Robert Kelley, above, spoke about the significance of the Law School addition and renovation to the University. He is pictured in the photo at right with the other ceremony speakers, State Board of Higher Education Chair Kathleen Neset, State Representative and third-year student Kylie Oversen, Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle, Dean Kathryn Rand and Lt. Governor Drew Wrigley. FALL 2015 21