Noem emphasizes honesty, integrity when addressing delegates

By Haleigh Bebbington

Aalfs Auditorium Slagle Hall filled with excitement Thursday morning as congresswoman Kristi Noem took the stage. Noem hit on the importance of integrity and walked Girls State delegates through the process of getting involved in big government.

Noem has spoken at Girls State for the past seven years and said it is important to inspire the attendees to be their best.

“You’re our future leaders,” she said. “I want (the delegates) to be able to talk with me and see that they could all do this job, too.”

Noem was inspired to get into politics after her father’s death in a farming accident. Following his death, Noem and her family received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service for her father’s death tax to be paid.

“I could not believe that our family had a tragedy, and all of the sudden we owed the federal government money,” Noem said.

Following that, Noem recognized that she has never seen herself as a quitter and decided to follow the advice she had always received from her father to take action.

“You don’t complain about things — you fix them,” Noem said. “I decided that we needed more normal people that were weighing in on policy and laws and telling their stories, and so I just started to do that.”

So, Noem began serving on the S.D. House of Representatives. In 2010, after four years in the House, Noem decided to run for Congress to tackle bigger issues.

“I was frustrated with what was going on in Washington, D.C.” Noem said.

Noem won the 2010 election, making her the fourth female to represent the state of South Dakota in Congress. Noem said she feels honored to have the experience.

Girls State delegate Madison Sippel from Seattle enjoyed hearing Noem’s strong stance on human trafficking during the assembly.

“It’s so sad that it’s such a huge issue,” Sippel said.

Noem also told delegates she has learned that above all, it is important to always have integrity and honesty.

“Once you lose (honesty), it’s really hard to get that back,” Noem said.

She also spoke briefly about the mission statement she has set for herself and encouraged the delegates to create mission statements of their own.

“My mission statement is to live a life of integrity and service to others through action,” Noem said.

Noem encouraged Girls State delegates to take action because it means more than words and to push themselves to new limits, even if it means failing at times.

“I think sometimes we, as women, hold ourselves back. We aren’t maybe pushing ourselves to the front or giving our opinions as much as we should,” Noem said in an interview with the Sacajawea Scroll.

Delegate Amanda Haugen said she believes one of Noem’s most important messages of the day was “putting yourself out there and getting people to know your name and know your story.”

Although women today still face challenges, Noem encourages them to strive for excellence and to never give up.

“I think that the more that we do it and pursue it and offer sound ideas and solutions to a lot of the challenges, that people will realize that we’re very capable and can do it,” she said.