Dennis Daugaard for Governor

I grew up on a family dairy farm between Dell Rapids and Garretson, SD. My grandparents came from Denmark and had purchased the farm’s home quarter in 1911.

My family raised cattle, hogs, and chickens, and grew corn, soybeans, oats, and hay. During my grade school years, my family turned to dairy farming. I arose each day at 5 a.m. to help dad milk and repeated the job every evening at 5 p.m. Both of my parents were deaf, making sign language the primary means of communication for my family. I am fluent in American Sign Language, and have been certified as an interpreter for the deaf.

I attended a one-room country school for grades 1-7, until it was consolidated into the Dell Rapids school district. Following graduation from Dell Rapids High School in 1971, I attended the University of South Dakota. I worked my way through college, with jobs of washing dishes, waiting tables, welding on the Load King assembly line, and sandblasting and painting water towers for Maguire Iron. In 1975, I graduated from USD with a Bachelor of Science degree in Government, with minors in Mathematics and Psychology.

After graduating, I went to law school at Northwestern University in Chicago.  During law school, I held jobs as a bus driver, law clerk and security guard. After earning my law degree in 1978, I passed the Illinois bar exam and worked in the Chicago area for three years.