The event was billed as the “Two Harbors Civility Summit.” The Two Harbors DECA club, an association of marketing and business students, worked with motivational speaker Dr. Mike Thomson to bring his unique program that aims to address issues regarding integrity, awareness, acceptance and humility in area schools, businesses and the communities at large.

Thomson encourages people attending his “Better me, better you, better us” trainings to focus on bettering themselves and the way they interact with people, so that the civility and discourse within schools and communities will naturally begin to improve.

DECA students at Two Harbors created buzz using social media and worked with businesses up and down the North Shore to raise money and promote the event. It wasn’t long before they were hearing from students at schools outside Two Harbors who wanted to get in on the action.

The day consisted of larger gatherings in the school auditorium along with smaller groups, and began with Two Harbors junior Thatcher Sunday emerging on stage in a dizzying array of smoke and lights to introduce Two Harbors Mayor Chris Swanson and Thomson following an energizing beatbox display. 

After Thomson spoke for about 45 minutes, the small groups discussed different topics and strategies to improve discourse and civility, not just in Two Harbors but around the region and Minnesota as a whole.