There can be many economic and social problems in rural, resource-dependent communities, and finding solutions is challenging. However, Aaron Kelson, an instructor at Minnesota North College, is determined to help the residents of his central Minnesota community flourish.
With this goal in mind, Kelson presented “How Teaching Creativity Frees Great Goodness” at a TEDx event in Silver Lake, Minnesota, in February 2024. Kelson, one of seven presenters, says he didn’t want to disappoint the community members in attendance. “Taking more than two decades of experience and boiling it down to a 15-minute presentation was daunting,” says Kelson, who earned his BS in business management with an emphasis in finance in 1987. “Since the talk had to be memorized, I had to keep the audience engaged without active participation.”
At the event, Kelson spoke about empowering people to find their own solutions rather than attempting to guide them with expert solutions. “Stressing sound principles is good when we know that people can build on them,” he says. “However, they will only do this when they believe they have unique gifts to offer.”
Kelson, who earned his PhD from Utah State University in forestry economics and policy, has taught business, economics, and geography at Minnesota North College since 2002. His favorite course to teach is Introduction to Economics. “I strive to make economics real rather than abstract by sharing personal stories,” he says.
Kelson was born in Utah but lived in northern Minnesota as a teenager. His dad worked in mining operations, which took their family to several resource-dependent areas and inspired Kelson’s love for boreal forests and outdoor recreation. “I not only learned to love natural resources but also the people who work valiantly to make a living utilizing them,” he says.
After graduate school, Kelson worked for the US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service in Washington, DC, as a presidential management intern and an agricultural economist. “My love for natural resources is deep and is integral to my faith in the restored gospel,” he says. “I’ve published journal articles on the connection between the Creation and Latter-day Saint theology, and I’d love to publish more.”
An avid swimmer, Kelson was a member of BYU’s swim team, and he continues to compete in the US Masters Swimming organization. In addition, Kelson is an accomplished bass guitarist and is often recruited to play in local musical endeavors. He started Pulse, a community-service rock band that performed at fundraising events and helped raise more than $300,000 from 2010 to 2017. “I’ve been working to lift and inspire in a region that has long struggled from boom-and-bust cycles of resource-dependent economics,” he says.
Kelson and his wife, Roxanne, have six children, and they reside in Eveleth, Minnesota, home of the US Hockey Hall of Fame Museum and the world’s largest free-standing hockey stick. “Eveleth is somewhat off the beaten track,” Kelson notes, “but our family has been blessed to live in this community.”
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Written by Emily Edmonds
