Tag Archive: Spring 2018 Edition of the Bridge

August 9, 2018

Dawn Kilic’s Worldly Adventures

When Dawn Kilic leaves her home, it feels like she’s in a utopian globalist world. Her four children, who range from ages 3 to 15, speak several languages, including English, Turkish and Russian. She’s surrounded by people from Korea, Nigeria, all over Europe and her husband, Veysel, hails from Turkey. Life in the relatively new country of Kyrgyzstan has a feel quite different than the Finnish-American upbringing she had in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul suburb of Burnsville. It’s an experience she [...]

August 1, 2018

Stephen Nikander Continues Family Legacy

Decades of experience in finance and more than a century of family heritage to be assets to Finlandia

There was a buzz around campus in the summer of 2017 when one day, seemingly out of the blue, a person with a familiar name walked into North Wind Books. The staff at the bookstore couldn’t help but ask all kinds of questions. That’s when they discovered that Stephen Nikander is the great grandson of Juho K. (J.K.) Nikander, [...]

July 25, 2018

Alums make a case for a pre-law path

Being at a close-knit, liberal arts school students get the opportunity to explore different options for their futures. These alumni saw their path to law school through Finlandia, while one Upper Peninsula lawyer has already proven that track as she followed her childhood passion.

Brierra Ruska, a 2015 Finlandia graduate, and current University of North Dakota Law School student was asked a question that changed her life two weeks before graduation.

“Dr. (Richard) Gee (head of the Criminal Justice department) [...]