USA 250 — North Dakota

Our nation will mark an important anniversary this year — one quarter of a millennium!

US Department of Education representative Katie Gorka addressed students at Westside Elementary School in West Fargo

July 4th will mark 250 years since the signing of The Declaration of Independence — the date traditionally recognized as America’s “birthday”.

As our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, North Dakota will mark it in a unique way — with the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and museum in Medora, on the very date — July 4, 2026.

Celebrations of the notable anniversary are also being observed throughout the year and throughout the nation. 

One such event, focused on young people, education, and history, occurred last week at Westside Elementary School in West Fargo.

The US Department of Education has selected one school in each state to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, with a focus not only on the historical significance of America’s “birthday” this year, but also upon history itself, and Westside was chosen as the North Dakota site.

American Experiment North Dakota Executive Director Jennifer Benson (L) and Senior Policy Fellow Kim Koppelman (R) took part in “History Rocks”, celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary at Westside Elementary School in West Fargo.

Students at Westside Elementary gathered to hear a unique presentation, rich with US and North Dakota history, ”History Rocks!”, presented by the school’s administration, in cooperation with the USDOE. It featured quizzes on state and national history and a special presentation by Katie Gorka, who traveled from Washington, DC, representing the Department of Education.

American Experiment North Dakota was honored to be part of the festivities with Executive Director Jennifer Benson and Senior Policy Fellow Kim Koppelman in attendance.

The students performed very well on the quizzes, but perhaps the most memorable of their correct answers was to the question of what system of government we have in the United States of America. One of the multiple choice options was “A Democracy,” and (with this inaccurate description offered so routinely today) one might have expected it to have been chosen. But West Fargo elementary students are smarter than that. They correctly identified America’s system of government as “A Constitutional Republic”.

That’s impressive!