GRAND FORKS, ND (trfnews.i234.me) Minot, North Dakota native Josh Duhamel received an honorary degree from the University of North Dakota on this Saturday.
* Video: Facebook, University of North Dakota
if you ask some people where Hollywood actor Josh Duhamel got his start they might say modeling or maybe the soap opera all my children if you ask North Dakotans they’d say he got a start right here in North Dakota josh has stayed true to his roots as he is the spokesperson for North Dakota’s legendary campaign today you’ll see him in a cap and gown as he walks across the stage to receive an honorary Doctorate degree from und please welcome Josh Duhamel so Josh you’ve been on campus before give us your impression of und well I’ve been coming to uni for many many years I actually went to mine at state university and thanks and most of my friends actually went to und so I’ve been familiar with this place for a very long time and you’re receiving an honorary degree today what does that mean to you it’s kind of hilarious I mean I’m a doctor man that’s scary no I’m not really a doctor I am very honored very honored that the University of North Dakota even considered me for this it wasn’t something I was expecting I was a little bit embarrassed by it when my sister first brought it to my attention but truly honored thankful you know it’s been it’s been it’s been a great couple of days sure and okay so from Minot to Hollywood I have to ask you what is the most North Dakotan thing you’ve done in a Hollywood movie set whoa I thought you said you’re gonna throw me softballs it’s a really difficult really difficult question the most North Dakota thing ah I mean what is the North Dakota thing I mean what do we do do this any different than anybody else say say hello yeah say hello to people do the finger wave down the road say hi how are you I you know I am I try to be as friendly and accommodating and hospitable too you know on every set and I think that’s very North Dakotan to be is you know just to be a friendly neighbor do you ever tap into the North Dakota roots you have for any of the characters you’ve played yeah I mean I think part of me and part of where I grew up is is in in every character that I play in some capacity and you’re part of the North Dakota tourism campaign you’re legendary and you’ve become a big part of that why is it important for you to give back to North Dakota you know it’s it was never a plan of mine it’s just a I was just proud to grow up here I was proud of my roots I loved the people I had a lot of my a lot of my friends and family are still here and so it was never part of my intention I was just proud of the fact that I was from North Dakota there’s not that many of us and so it was it was it it just became something and you know it wasn’t like it was something that I set out to do and because of that they asked me to be the the the the the face of the campaign which has been a lot of fun we’ve had a lot of fun with it over the last couple years seen a lot of that campaign all over also you were part of a flood recovery effort my not your hometown had a devastating flood and then you became an honorary chair what what did that do for you in terms of seeing what happened to your home and and how did how did that how did you help I remember when I first heard about the flood I was in Russia believe it or not and I just I remember I was watching some feet of KX 13 from Russia and seeing these houses just could you know swallowed up by that flood my sister’s house they lost it they were able to you know fix it back up again but so many people two-third of the city lost their houses and so it was difficult it was devastating for me at the time I wanted to do something and so I talked to my wife at the time and said this is what’s going on she’s and she’s really the one that did all that she’s a no but she’s an incredible girl and convinced the black-eyed peas to come out and do a benefit concert for for the for the for the people of Minot and they ended up raising like a million bucks so people give me a credit for that but it was mostly her in the black-eyed peas okay so you had a little bit of time you came in and went to a dinner last night tell us what happened there what what did you do what did we do oh it was wild man it was so wild tell us what you can we what did we do we went we had dinner my son was there my for my buddies there my mom my youngest sister and it was actually a lot of fun you never know what those things but it was a lot of fun a lot of I got to meet heidi heitkamp and clay lacey who are also being honored today and you know just got to meet a lot of the the the bigwigs here at the university all right so you’re a bigwig and you’re here on the stage right now how’s my wig it’s looking great we want to know what kind of advice do you have for the students who are graduating today my advice to the students they’re not here though right these are just family but they can hear okay oh they can hear you know my advice to the students is congratulations first of all it’s not easy to get that degree and that to me is the biggest thing is you’re gonna go out you’re gonna get into the real world don’t hold on too tight stay curious don’t be afraid to make mistakes and go after what it is you want to go after you know you may not make it the first time you’re gonna probably gonna get told no here and there but if you stay persistent you can you can do it believe me you can really you can really really do it all right so I had a request from everybody out there and you’ve probably heard this before they want a selfie with you and so I think the best way we can do this is I’ve got my camera here and if I take a picture of you and me with everybody in the background giving Josh the best North Dakota welcome home cheer you can we’ll hashtag this und proud on the Facebook Twitter everything else that und has you can then share it on your own timeline and say I got a selfie with Josh Duhamel e ready okay let’s do this everybody needs to cheer let’s do it [Applause] awesome Josh thanks so much for taking the time and happy graduation thank you I’m a doctor doctor please call me back to the mouth
Exclusive: Josh Duhamel Honored with an Honorary Degree from the University of North Dakota
