FARGO — The simple question from a loving father pierced Carter Kochmann’s heart: “Are you going to Mass consistently?”

The two were heading home for Easter from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where the 2021 Shanley High School graduate was a freshman.

“I just said, ‘No, Dad, I haven’t,’” Carter recalled, “and immediately, I saw his demeanor drop.”

That moment became a conduit for change. Back at college, Carter began pursuing God and his Catholic faith, slowly at first, ultimately convincing the philosophy and pre-med student to pause his post-graduate studies for a greater good.

On Aug. 9, instead of rolling up his sleeves for med school, Carter will head to Honduras to spend the next several years bringing Christ’s love to children who’ve had a rough start.

With several short visits home planned, he’ll return here permanently in December 2028, undoubtedly changed.

“I still have an interest in medicine,” Carter said. He envisions possibly going to med school to become a medical missionary, but he’s not “locking that into place,” he added. “I don’t want to get wrapped up in the future. I just want to be as present as possible to the kids and do what the Lord is wanting me to do.”

Contributed / Carter Kochmann

Carter’s decision to leave the well-trod path didn’t happen all at once. But early in college, he began to feel an emptiness about life.

“I remember my freshman year feeling that cliché of meaninglessness," he said. While reading the classic novel, “Crime and Punishment,” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky that spring semester, however, he began thinking about how our actions affect us and others.

“Everything collapses in his attempt to choose what he thinks is good,” Carter said of the main character, Rodion, who tries justifying a murder he committed. “There’s this objective reality that our souls are in tune with — we can tell right from wrong.”

The story was hitting a little too close to home. Though his sins weren’t as extreme, he said, he was “making selfish choices, going against my conscience,” and experiencing “the downward spiral.”

The Catholic education he’d set aside, for the most part, was “finally getting pressed and instilled into me in real life.”

Contributed / Carter Kochmann

Another pivotal moment happened after a spring-break trip to Europe his sophomore year.

“There was a lot of sin and regret; that was the lowest point,” Carter said. On the flight home, experiencing the darkness of it all, something seized him. “I felt the Lord come to me in that moment, and he loved me through it.”

Returning to campus, Carter went to confession and broke down in front of the priest. “I realized, OK, enough of this kind of life," he said. "I see where this is going and I don’t want it.”

He began hunkering down on his studies and attending Mass regularly. Carter also began engaging with Gopher Catholic, the ministry for Catholic students on campus, and observed the “authentic joy” and adventurous spirit of the on-campus missionaries.

It got him thinking whether his path toward medical school might be becoming another selfish pursuit. “I was just trying to secure my own future,” he said, and “in a way, idolizing medical school, and not really asking God what he wants of me.”

While walking home from class one day, Carter heard a voice from within say: “What if you do mission, Carter?”

He laughed it off. “I called it a crazy Jesus thought,” he said.

But as he opened to the idea, he said, he began to experience peace and joy — even if “in small fragments” initially. Finally, the surrender came, and Carter told God that if he wanted him to be a missionary, he’d do it. “The fire was lit,” he said.

Contributed / Carter Kochmann

But where? The answer came one day in the middle of ethics class. During the lecture, Carter, whose mind was elsewhere, searched “physician saints” on his laptop and found an image of Saint Gianna Molla.

It sparked a long-ago memory. “I said out loud, ‘Luigi!’” Carter said. “I had completely forgotten, but it all came to me in a moment. I met her son in first grade!”

Indeed, that year, in Mrs. Jean Eppler’s first grade class at Nativity Elementary School, the group was invited to meet Pierluigi Molla, the son of Saint Gianna, visiting here from Italy to tour the Saint Gianna Maternity Home in Warsaw, N.D.

“I started reading about her life and saw that she wanted to do international mission, joining her brother in Brazil, but couldn’t because of health issues,” Carter said. “That started me looking toward international mission, and the spark went off. It felt right, like the Holy Spirit was working.”

Contributed / Carter Kochmann

He came upon Finca del Niño, Farm of the Child, a mission in Honduras that houses children 2 to 18 who’ve been orphaned, abandoned by family, or have suffered severe emotional and physical trauma, malnutrition, or gang violence.

Carter visited the mission in May 2025, and after discernment his senior year, committed to two years of service.

Eppler recalled that Carter was “joyful and well-liked.” She also remembered the meeting with Pierluigi was a gift from the Bell Bank “Pay It Forward” program. “They served pancakes with bacon smiles and strawberry eyes, and the kids had each made a page about the life of Saint Gianna and got to read their story,” she said, calling the day “magical.”

But it’s even more so, she said, realizing the story “is still affecting people,” like Carter. “It’s getting added onto even now.”

When Carter reached out recently by letter, she said, “I sat on my front porch and just cried, thinking, ‘Look at you, God. You used that moment in time when he was 6 years old to be a missionary because of Saint Gianna’s life!’”

One of Carter’s campus mentors is Brother Brandt Haglund, who belongs to a religious order that, according to Brother Brandt, is a bit “like urban monks.” He noted that a service mission trip to Oklahoma Carter took with other college students in March 2024 was another flash point. The students stayed at the Holy Family Retreat at Remnant Ranch serving an impoverished area of the state and the Choctaw Nation.

“I think that was an accelerant” in his spiritual life, Brother Brandt said. “I find that most of the students who come back from Cancun return tired and yuck from staying up late, etc., but those working at soup kitchens come back so alive, so fulfilled,” he said.

Contributed / Carter Kochmann

He watched Carter grow in Gopher Catholic to becoming a leader, he said, naming “authenticity” as one of his best qualities, along with “courage and generosity.”

“Someone who delays med school for over two years to go to a different country where most people don’t speak your language,” he said, “and depriving oneself of a number of comforts we experience in America; this is courageous and generous.”

Brother Brandt suspects Carter’s presence among the children there — many of whom have not had healthy male role models — will be profound, he said, though “the full ripple effect might not be seen until we’re in heaven.”

Carter’s parents couldn’t be prouder of their youngest child, they said, describing him as always having had a zest for life and a spiritual inclination.

Paul, his father, recalled a photo of Carter holding up a toddler “with a big smile on his face” after his initial visit to the Finca in Honduras in 2025, and his “burning desire” to return.

Contributed / Carter Kochmann

His mother, Nancy, has been learning Spanish and buying children’s books to read to the kids when they visit six months into his service. “We also sponsor a little guy from Honduras through church, so we’re hoping to meet him,” she said.

Readying to embrace his next adventure, Carter said he’s leaving the itinerary open.

“I just want to be a conduit for (God), to love the kids the best I can, to learn what it means to love and to be a man who upholds virtue without other distractions pulling me away,” he said. “God only knows where that might lead.”

To follow Carter’s journey, visit: https://www.farmofthechild.org/carter.

FARGO — Maybe some day North Dakota State head track and field coach Stevie Keller will write a book on his recruiting eye, or whatever he sees in high school prospects. He’s found some diamonds in the rough over the years.

Paige Renschler may turn out to be one of the shiniest.

“With her, I guess we struck some gold,” said Bison assistant coach Reece Vega, who handles the sprinters. “Her story is very rare.”

A Fargo Shanley graduate, Renschler wasn’t even sure if she wanted to compete at the college level.

“It was like, we’ll see what happens,” she said. “Let’s try it out. Why not?”

Well, what’s happened so far would defy even the greatest of recruiting minds in the country. The Bison sophomore is heading into the Summit League Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday through Saturday at the NDSU track this weekend with the second-best times in school history in both the 100 and 200 meters.

She’s within eyesight of Antoinette Goodman’s school record in the 100 and is just one-tenth of a second off of Kendra Kelley’s mark in the 200 of 23.19 seconds. She’s already passed a lot of former athletes who have their names on the wall of the Ellig Indoor Track and Field Facility.

“I don’t think it’s a secret, you have to be able to spot the right kids and get them into the program,” Keller said.

One of the several firsts for Renschler came Wednesday morning at the program’s indoor facility. It was her first media interview.

Considering her good, but not great, high school performance at Shanley and the fact she’s just a sophomore, that wasn’t surprising. Everything else about Renschler has blown all predictions out of the water.

Volleyball was her main focus at Shanley and she admitted to running track more so to stay in shape. Her best track accolades were third place finishes in the 100 and 200 at the North Dakota Class A state meet.

“You never expect somebody getting third at the North Dakota meet to all of a sudden do what she’s doing,” Vega said. “She’s on the verge of being one of the best sprinters in NDSU history. Just a great story.”

Zachary Lucy / NDSU Athletics

Keller recruited her as a 400 runner, thinking the potential was there because of her foot speed, strength and height. In other words, she looked like the mold of a 400 runner. He figured it would take at least two to three years for her to develop into a college contributor.

“She just wasn’t fast enough at our level at the 100 and 200,” Keller said. “It’s just a really cool story. To see a Fargo kid come in and take a chance and say, ‘I don’t know if I have a spot here at NDSU,’ but it has worked out really well and she’s just a great kid.”

Renschler credits having a specific sprinters coach in Vega.

“They just create a culture that is like nowhere else,” she said. “It’s just so supportive and really helps you reach the best of your ability. The support from teammates is just great. It’s definitely strength and speed work and just being consistent all the time.”

Renschler equaled her state high school best with a third place finish in last year’s Summit outdoor meet. The improvement never stopped, she said, both mentally and physically.

“It’s crazy to think about all those past school records and all of that,” Renschler said. “I honestly didn’t think it was possible until this year.”

Her best 100 time in high school was 11.95 seconds. She ran 11.42 seconds at the SMU Invitational this spring and actually broke Goodman’s record with a 11.11, but it was considered wind-aided and therefore didn’t count.

“I don’t care how hard the wind was blowing, if you get your body moving that fast, that says something about your overall upside of what kind of speed you can have,” Keller said.

There are Bison bloodlines in play, also. Renschler’s father, Rob Renschler, was a track and field athlete in the jumps and 110 hurdles at NDSU when Keller, in his 26th year at the school, first started coaching. Vega thinks Keller also looks at the parent history of a recruit.

“Rob was a competitive dog,” Keller said. “He hated to lose and when he was competing, he was fun to watch because you knew he was going to bring a high level of competition every time.”

It’s a story that’s been written many times; NDSU taking a high school recruit from North Dakota and because their spring season is short, they take advantage of year-around training at the college level.

“She’s just very talented,” Vega said. “Some people, you just hit the right training with them and they blossom and go crazy. As a coach, you’re always trying to navigate what works best for everybody. To develop speed like that usually takes years, but we got really lucky. I mean she’s doing stuff that you see people in the south or California, people that have 90-degree great weather all the time.”

FARGO — When the seminarians arrive at the bishop’s home over summer break, Resident Manager Sara Ries occasionally has to remind them she’s not their mom, and they need to clean up their own messes.

And yet, Ries, a wife and mother of three young adult children, admitted that after her kids left the nest of her home, she realized she’d gained a new set of kids at the bishop’s place.

She loves bumping into them while out doing errands.

“Some are bashful, and some will come and give me a big old hug,” she said, noting that a perk of the job is “getting to know some of these good and holy men.”

“The bishop and I are the constants, so when they come back between holidays, we’re still the same, and it’s like coming home for them,” she said, adding that she does get “a little bit ‘mother hen’ on them at times" and tends to "put them under my wing.”

Chris Flynn / The Forum

It’s natural, after all. Off the job, Ries has her own home to keep, and many of her tasks here are similar.

“I do the dishes, iron (the bishop’s) clothes,” and, she added wryly, “vacuum up the mouse poop.”

The latter isn’t her favorite part, but Ries, who could have retired when her husband, John, did recently, hasn’t felt called yet to give it up. She enjoys serving her bishop in this rather unique way.

“He’s a great boss. I just love him. And he’ll eat anything I make,” she said, allowing her food creativity to shine, “which is really fun when it comes to entertaining.”

Ries was still putting the finishing touches on dressing the home in its Christmas finery while she talked about her job last month, cutting shiny ribbons for the dining room and the home’s several Christmas trees, remarking that the old house is in its glory this time of year.

This month, she’ll celebrate a decade in the position, begun in 2016 after the previous manager fell ill with cancer.

“I used to work at Shanley (High School) in the development office, and (the bishop) would always have me do a Christmas tea before the Shanley Christmas candlelight concert, so he’d eaten my food there before,” Ries said, explaining how she got the job.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

But it was ultimately through a “Chopped” food competition hosted by her parish, Holy Cross Catholic Church, when the connection was firmed. “I was on the team that won,” Ries said, and Folda — who had noted her culinary skills — asked if she’d consider helping with a dinner at the residence.

Arriving at the home soon thereafter, Ries was given a tour by the Rev. Matthew Kraemer, who was serving under the bishop at the time.

“He said, ‘Here’s where the tablecloth is, the pantry,’ etc.” Then, providing her with a Hornbacher’s gift card, he set her loose.

“It was awful — I didn’t know where anything was. But I got dinner on the table, and nothing was burned,” she said about that first meal.

Afterward, Bishop Folda, apparently satisfied, asked her, “So, would you be willing to try this again?” and she agreed, having now aced the interview.

Though the job can be fairly intense at times — like around the holidays — Ries said there’s lots of down time with a bishop’s schedule, too, like after Christmas when he spends time in his native Nebraska.

“He travels so much, and I can’t do a lot when he’s gone,” she said, noting that she works, on average, about 12 to 15 hours a week.

Along with cooking, she also assists with gardening and other house projects, like choosing paint colors and offering other home-improvement advice when needed. And in the past, when her children were younger, Ries would even “press them into service.” Gus has helped with the gardening and tree pruning, and the girls, Gabby and Maggie, have chipped in as well.

But most of the time, she’s managing it solo, and while much of her work is mundane like all housework can be, Ries said, it sometimes hits her that she’s assisting a successor of the apostles.

“I’ve told him that you can’t really iron someone’s pants and then turn around and say, ‘Here, your Excellency,’” Ries said, chuckling, explaining that she’s had to find a balance in recognizing the dignity of her boss’s station while tending to the ordinary things of his extraordinary life.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

“I kind of always feel that if I ever become too cheesy or insubordinate, I’d rather he fires me, because I like him more as a friend than a boss,” Ries said. “He’s a wonderfully kind man, and we’ve gotten to where we can be pretty honest with each other. For instance, he loves beige; I hate beige.”

Another time, it struck her while attending the Chrism Mass right before Easter, when all diocesan priests gather to bless the sacramental oils for the coming year.

“I see this man, who I’m buying Wheaties (cereal) for, and hemming his pants, and he’s there with his mitre, crucifix and crozier, sanctifying these oils,” she said, realizing then that he’s much more than her boss; he’s her bishop. “I sometimes forget what a big deal he is because he’s so humble. It’s wonderful to have such openness, but I also don’t want to ever forget who he truly is — and that he has been handpicked by God to be my shepherd.”

In the past, Ries said, the residence wasn’t used for entertaining like it is now. She’s helped with everything from Christmas cocktail parties and more casual lunches to very formal dinners. “It’s kind of a steady stream of different people utilizing the home,” she said. “I think part of that is that he enjoys it, and they also have me willing to help.”

She loves not only the work and her boss but the whole environment.

“It’s such a grand old home, mice and all,” Ries said, noting its stunning yet “warm and welcoming” characteristics.

Chris Flynn / The Forum

And despite occasionally finding an empty booze bottle or used hypodermic needle that’s been thrown into the yard, she said, “you can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit” in that space.

“Mostly, I think I go the extra mile, and enjoy it because of the man (Bishop Folda) is — the peace he exudes and the humility,” Ries said.

But there’s one thing she won’t do, she said, confirming the necessary boundaries of her work with her matter-of-fact humor.

“I don’t do the undergarments," she said.

WARRENSBURG, Mo. — Emily Srejma sank a shot in the closing seconds to lift Minnesota State Moorhead to a 68-66 overtime victory against Central Missouri on Tuesday in nonconference NCAA Division II women's basketball at Jerry M. Hughes Athletics Center.

The Dragons (2-1) trailed by as many as five points in overtime before they rallied. MSUM closed the game on an 11-4 run.

Junior guard paced Abby Berge the Dragons with 15 points, while Terryn Johnson added 13 points. MSUM point guard Ashton Safranski scored 10 points with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals. The 6-foot-4 Srejma, a Fargo Shanley graduate, finished with four points and four rebounds.

The Dragons next play Minnesota Crookston at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25, in their first NSIC game this season.

FARGO — A story of strength and gratitude is unfolding for a Fargo family.

Fargo Shanley graduate Boden “Bo” Meier suffered a life-changing injury in early May, a brain bleed in a golf cart accident.

The 20-year-old and his parents have been out of state for the last six months to receive proper care, but their long-awaited homecoming was Wednesday, Nov. 12.

The family says they’ve been guided by faith throughout a harrowing journey.

Chris Meier, Bo’s dad, said, “It’s painfully slow, but there are no limits. Bo’s a winner. Bo is a competitor. Bo is fighting every day. I can see it.”

After six months of intense care, and more to come, Bo Meier is back home in Fargo.

Contributed

The family asked for Bo not to be on camera as he settles in, but they’re grateful just to have that choice.

“We walk in, and within 10 minutes, you know the surgeon’s advising us to say our goodbyes and that he didn’t really think Bo was going to make it through that first night. And I’ll never forget that," Chris said, "Bo made it through that first night, and then he’s made it through 180 more nights."

Slowly but surely, Bo’s condition improves as he gains more consciousness.

At Craig Hospital in Colorado, the Meier family says it was all about stacking “little wins."

“The best was seeing the progression of all the other patients, right? And you just feel it and hope it for us," said Karin Meier, Bo's mother.

Now, Bo has fewer tubes and has advanced in eating.

As much as the family preaches “Bo knows,” they know Bo is fighting.

“You can see it in his eyes. He hears us. He’s listening to us. Just before you got here, I said, 'Bo, do you see your name on my shirt?' And he turns his head and looks at it. These big eyes. He knows," Chris said.

The family’s inner strength is evident, but they say the support from the community, and an unbelievable welcome home, fortified it even more.

“We couldn’t do this without the help of the community. I mean, they literally just redid our bathroom while we were gone," Chris said.

Neighbors remodeled the bathroom to accommodate Bo’s needs, raised the garage entry for the van he now requires, and contributed to a Lend A Hand fundraiser that raised more than $121,000 to help with the financial burden.

Sam Weber / WDAY News

The family says the support means more than its dollar value.

“However many dollars are in there, just take that times 10 and maybe 100 and that’s, you know, millions and millions of prayers have been given for Bo,” Chris said.

Hundreds of signs across the neighborhood Wednesday from the local Catholic school community gave Bo a heartfelt welcome back.

Karin said, “There’s all these things that I don’t even know who to thank yet, right?”

Sam Weber / WDAY News

Whether they’re able to thank everyone individually or not, the family says Bo has the strength of thousands behind him.

“It’s gonna be a tough, long road, but Bo is fighting,” Chris said. “The least we can do is fight as hard as he is, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Bo’s family says they’re trying to keep his routine the same as it was before the injury, including watching his twin brother Landon play for the Bison football team on Saturdays.

On this date in 1972, Former Shanley star Mike Deutsch was poised to break a 22-year-old scoring record as he led North Dakota in a highly anticipated matchup against NDSU.

Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

This is the weekend a lot of North Dakota State University football fans are traveling to Grand Forks to watch how Ron Erhardt and company fares against a highly touted North Dakota Sioux squad.

And this is the weekend that these Fargo fans along with the Sioux fans will be focusing their attention on a Fargo running back who, based on his season’s performance thus far, will be carrying the ball in a manner to be reckoned with.

The Fargo fans will look on this with mixed emotions, because former Shanley High School star Mike Deutsch will be gaining yardage for the University of North Dakota.

If Deutsch scores a touchdown Saturday he will break a 22-year-old conference season scoring record held by S.D. State’s Warren Williamson. Deutsch currently leads all College Division players in scoring with an average of 20 points per game.

If Deutsch should not break this record the outcome of Saturday’s game very likely will be different than many people anticipate.

How is Deutsch reacting to all this? At a practice earlier this week it was apparent that both he and the team are very much aware of the attention Deutsch is getting. Deutsch breezed through the afternoon session joshing with his teammates and sometimes giving the impression of not working too hard.

But then his feet started digging and he crashed against the line.

Deutsch looked ready!

FARGO — When Mateo Leslie was just 6 years old, he saw someone tap dancing on TV and was instantly hooked.

“I just loved the sound of it,” he said. “I wanted the shoes.”

His mom enrolled him at Gasper’s School of Dance in Fargo, where tiny Mateo begged his way into tap class two years earlier than most kids were normally allowed. By age 8, he was competing.

And by then, he’d teamed up with someone who would become his mentor, dance partner and unofficial older brother: Patrick Kasper.

Together, they’re now known as “Pateo” — a charming combo of Patrick and Mateo, certainly more melodic than “Matrick.” The duo has been tapping their way across stages and into hearts for more than a decade and their new show invites a few friends on stage for the fun.

2018 Forum file photo

What began as a teacher-student dynamic for Pateo has evolved into something more like a brotherhood — albeit one with a slightly manic older sibling.

“Mateo is the calm, cool, collected one,” Kasper laughed. “And I’m … the other guy.”

In their early days of performing, it was hard to miss them when they walked on stage to perform — Patrick, the grown-up blond goofball, and adorable little Mateo with the flowing brown locks.

Contributed / Patrick Kasper

“That hair was a big part of my identity. I couldn't get rid of it. You know what I mean?” Leslie said with a laugh. “I finally got it cut when I got a little older. I just needed a change.”

Leslie first started working with Kasper when he needed choreography for a competition solo. The song? James Brown’s “Super Bad.”

“I was 8,” Leslie said, grinning. “But I had so much fun. Every Wednesday after school, I’d meet with Patrick and just try to soak it all in.”

That first routine earned accolades and kicked off a rhythm that hasn't stopped since.

Contributed / Patrick Kasper

The two began performing in community shows, Christmas fundraisers and private parties. At one early gig, Kasper dressed as Santa and Leslie, naturally, was a dancing elf.

Kasper remembers having to give Leslie a piggyback ride through the snow in costume to protect his tap shoes from a recent snowfall.

They wouldn’t attempt that photo now — Mateo is 22, an inch or two taller than Patrick, with a mustache and a voice that’s dropped a few octaves since his elf days.

But the duo wasn't always together.

Leslie soon took to the national stage, appearing on "So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation" and "America’s Got Talent,” with judges Mel B., Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Howard Stern.

“I got two yeses and two nos, but it was a great experience and it was so fun meeting the judges,” he said.

Contributed / Josee Leslie

Kasper chimes in to pump up his pal.

“When Mateo was on stage, Howie was like ‘you need to have your own TV show, a movie. You’re a star, kid!'” Kasper said.

While Leslie was hobnobbing with Spice Girls, supermodels, comedians and radio personalities, Kasper stayed busy spreading good vibes as a motivational speaker and fitness guru through his wellness brand, Positive Motion.

Created by Kasper, Positive Motion is all about inspiring people of all ages to move with purpose, injecting fun into fitness and energy into everyday life. He also continued directing and choreographing local shows and still teaches tap and musical theater at Gasper’s School of Dance.

Forum file photo

While their solo lives kept them busy, Pateo also found themselves increasingly in demand.

They performed at the Twin Cities Tap Festival (twice), at benefit shows around the region and at corporate events. They’ve tapped, drummed and even rapped their way through just about every holiday party in town.

“There’s just something that clicks when we’re on stage together,” Kasper said. “It’s organized chaos — we know what we’re doing, even when the world around us doesn’t.”

The harmony comes in part from their shared musical roots. Kasper, who started tapping back in the 1980s at Red River Dance under the legendary Kathy and Eddie Gasper, initially dreamed of becoming a drummer. Leslie was also a percussionist. That rhythmic background has shaped their style — percussive, playful and packed with personality.

Anna Paige / The Forum

Now, they’re gearing up for a new gig: performing in “Do Ya Wanna Dance,” a one-act musical revue produced by the Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre. Directed and choreographed by Kasper, the show features high-energy numbers set to dance-floor favorites like “Dancing in the Street,” “Walking on Sunshine,” and “Boogie Wonderland.”

It opens Aug. 14 at the Hjemkomst Center in Moorhead.

“This show is perfect for what we do,” Kasper said. “It’s short, punchy and all about the joy of movement. And because it’s a concert-style dance show, we actually get to tap, something we can’t always squeeze into bigger Broadway-style productions. We want to give a big thanks to Judy Lewis. the executive director of FMCT. for this."

The show also features a strong adult cast of local talent, many of whom Kasper has worked with before.

“It’s the best of the best,” he said. “I’m just so blessed to be part of it.”

Anna Paige / The Forum

As for Leslie, he’s balancing rehearsals with a full-time job as an asset manager for National Hospitality Services, following his recent graduation from Concordia College. Even with a busy schedule, he still carves out time to perform and credits Kasper with shaping him not just as a dancer, but as a person.

“He’s been such a huge part of my life,” Leslie said. “A mentor, a friend — we’ve had a lot of great adventures together. I’ve known him more than half my life.”

"When people say how amazing Mateo is on stage I always say 'and a wonderful man offstage.' I didn’t teach him everything I know. But I taught him everything he knows," he said with a grin.

They both crack up — clearly in sync, as always.

Anna Paige / The Forum

So what’s next for Pateo?

“More gigs, more tapping, more fun. We’re always looking for places to perform. And yes, we’ll probably still be doing this in our 50s, 60s, maybe 70s. One of us is closer than the other," Kasper said with another hearty laugh.

For Pateo, it’s not just about the applause. It’s about the joy. The rhythm. The connection.

And yes, the shoes.

Anna Paige / The Forum

What: "Do Ya Wanna Dance?"

When: 7:30 p.m., Aug. 14–16 and 5:30 p.m., Aug 17.

Where: Hjemkomst Center, 202 First Av. N., Moorhead

Info: fmct.org

BOZEMAN, Montana — In a July 2019 Forum article featuring Adam Schwankl, the former Shanley High School standout basketball player and artist shared his attempts to curb the Hodgkin lymphoma threatening his body.

Now 37 and in remission, he and his wife, Valerie, find themselves amid boxes for the second time this year, recently having moved to a home along the periphery of the Rocky Mountains, while wrangling their young children, Stella, 3, and Sebastian, 1, to barter for some quiet time.

While six years ago, life itself was in question, these days, it’s flourishing.

“You don’t feel super grounded always in the challenges that come up,” Adam admitted of parenthood, noting their third child is due in January.

But he’s not complaining; the couple stands in awe at what has transpired — both in Adam’s health journey and their faith.

Even before children arrived, Adam had approached his cancer with a mind toward fatherhood, choosing treatments that would decrease chances of sterility.

“When Valerie conceived Stella, to me, that was the biggest fruit of doing all that work,” Adam said, noting that the news was “a huge turnaround from the way things had been going.”

The “work” involved a ton of research and, initially, 10 weeks at An Oasis of Healing in Mesa, Arizona, an oncology clinic incorporating both conventional and alternative medicine. Relieved, Adam left with a clear scan.

Contributed / Adam Schwankl

“But then I came back, and there were some things going on with (my career) that I still hadn’t changed,” he said, and soon, the cancer reappeared in new places, “on my neck and under my arms.” He now wonders if God was prompting him to rethink his life’s direction.

Adam returned for 16 more weeks of intense treatment: five to seven-hour days, five days a week. “It was a lot, but the cancer didn’t change,” he said, despite the earlier treatment having eliminated 90 percent or more of the disease from around his heart.

It was time to try a more conventional approach, he decided, but with a milder round of chemo — one-eighth of the usual dose and adding water fasts to increase the treatment’s effectiveness.

The cancer reversed, and soon thereafter, the couple learned Valerie was pregnant. Adam’s health has been stable ever since.

Henri Pellerin met Adam in college around 2007, but in ensuing years, their shared Catholic faith and political values have only strengthened their bond, Henri said.

They were still in their 20s when he drove Adam to Arizona for one of his first treatments so Valerie could work. He wanted it to be fun, so they decided to stop in Moab, Utah, along the way to hike. “We were going off trail and exploring some incredible places,” Henri said, noting Adam’s “experimental, adventurous” spirit.

That spirit surfaced in other moments throughout the cancer journey, including just after Adam learned about his diagnosis. The two were playing two-on-two basketball with another friend — and Adam’s dog.

Contributed / Adam Schwankl

“Adam had trained his dog to pass the ball to him,” Henri recalled, chuckling, and despite Henri’s teammate being a gifted ball player, those two were “destroyed.” “Adam was literally passing the ball to his dog and getting the perfect assists, then driving to the hole.”

The friendship has included plenty of seriousness as well. “(Adam’s) got a very rigorous, philosophical, intellectual understanding of what it is to be Catholic,” Henri said, “so, we’ve had a lot of conversations over the years around that kind of stuff, too.”

Early in their friendship, Henri, a native of Louisiana, had rejected his childhood faith in God.

But Adam’s approach to his cancer left an impression.

“He’s definitely been a central figure in my own faith journey — an inspiration as the most devout person I know, and seeing the role (faith) plays in his life,” Henri said.

For a while, Henri admitted, he thought he might lose his best friend. “For a minute there, his hair was thinning and he was getting smaller, but now he’s back to a baseline of a healthy young man,” he said.

Henri, who considers Adam “an underappreciated artist,” also admires his friend’s creative gifts and has bought quite a few of his pieces for his home. “It’s just good to see him continuing to create beautiful art, beautiful children, and, you know, just living life with a passion,” he said.

During the roughest part of Adam’s health journey, Valerie, a Chinese-medicine doctor, discovered that while a serious illness requires great internal strength, so does being the spouse of someone suffering.

“I was in a really lonely, dark place off and on. It’s almost like you have to tell yourself, ‘There’s no time for this feeling to come up,’ but it’s still happening,” she recalled.

Contributed

One day, while driving alone to meet up with Adam in Arizona, traversing the most desolate spot in the desert, Valerie began lamenting how dreary it all was, when a relative called with good news about her faith journey — something for which Valerie had been praying.

She had to apologize to God, she said, for her lack of trust and poor attitude. “You don’t always know how A and B fit together, but eventually, you can see the collective movement of God’s hand in all of it," she said.

Surrender, Valerie added, has been a key theme throughout. “I had to trust that God was going to take care of (Adam) and lead us to all the solutions we were praying for,” she said.

Ultimately, she feels that the cancer has served a valuable purpose, “healing parts of ourselves and our relationship that had to become strengthened to prepare for the coming chapter,” including raising children, which, Valerie said, can often feel like “taking an exit ramp that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Sometimes, though, there’s just so much value in trusting in the detour,” she added, “and once you’re past it, you’re so relieved: ‘We made it!’”

Adam’s journey has led him to want to advocate for others seeking alternative treatments after a cancer diagnosis, including natural compounds proven to block pathways to some cancers and “dramatically improve the efficacy of other treatments,” often at a fraction of the cost of standard remedies.

He recommended Jane McLelland’s, “How to Starve Cancer: Without Starving Yourself,” for those interested in exploring other options.

But a positive mindset can also make a huge difference, Adam said, which can be enhanced through faith, pointing to James in Scripture who “talks often about belief and not doubting,” adding, “there’s a big mental game,” and more scientific evidence demonstrating that prayer and belief can aid in the healing process.

Adam believes his own cancer was a response to a misguidedness in his own life, forcing him to “stop, relocate and deal with what needed to be dealt with” to pave the way to better things.

Now, looking at his children — the fruits of that turnaround — he said, “I can actually say that I’m thankful for the experience. I would never wish that on anyone, but I would certainly go through it again to be able to have my family.”

His art also has helped refocus and heal him, he said, noting that setting up his studio was one of his priorities in their recent move.

Lately, he’s become interested in Western art, reflected in his painting, “Radiant Reverie,” depicting a cowboy on his horse at the end of the day, gazing at a thunderhead at sunset. “He’s reposed in reverie, and looks like he’s been working hard, but there’s a satisfaction in that,” Adam said.

He remains interested in sacred art as well. In fact, he’s open to commissioned work of both sacred and Western themes, separately, or even the two merged.

“I’ve been looking into the early cowboys that were Catholic; the vaqueros,” he said, noting that he’s begun researching the Catholic culture surrounding their world and bridging these artforms.

The creative process, while innate in Adam, is not reserved for a select few, but all human beings are meant to create, Adam said, likening God to the sun, which is “always shining and giving us everything we need,” and bidding us closer through grace, procured “through the sacraments, but also through our daily prayers.”

Throughout his health trials, Adam has discovered that suffering can hasten the reception of this grace; whether in physical obstacles or everyday challenges in child-rearing.

“Parenting draws you out. You realize your life is not about you … it’s got to be about the other,” Adam said, “but ultimately, it’s all about God and the pursuit of God.”