On this date in 1998, The Fargo Forum ran a photo of Miss North Dakota 1997, Roxana Saberi, showing a student at Fargo’s Nativity Catholic School how to wear a kimono. Roxana was giving a presentation about appreciating cultural differences and similarities. Promoting cultural appreciation during her year-long reign as Miss North Dakota was very important to the Fargo native. Roxana’s father, an author and instructor, is from Iran, and her mother, a doctor, is from Japan. Roxana was born in New Jersey and moved to Fargo as a baby. She graduated from Fargo North High School in 1994 and from Concordia College in 1997 with degrees in Communication and French.
Roxana Saberi excelled at the Miss America pageant. While she did not win, she became only the third North Dakotan to be a Top 10 finalist and the first contestant to win the new Miss America Scholar award. Roxana pursued her dream of becoming a foreign correspondent by earning a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge in England. She began her career as a Washington, D.C. correspondent for Fargo’s KVLY-TV.
Roxana achieved her dream when she moved to Tehran, Iran in 2003 as a freelance journalist. She was inducted into Fargo’s North High School Hall of Fame in 2007 and was invited to speak at Concordia College’s commencement in 2009. Fargo’s rising star made international headlines in 2009 for a very frightening reason. She was arrested in Iran under the false charge that she had obtained a classified document. While she was arrested on January 31, she wasn’t allowed to see an attorney until March 8. On April 8, she was sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage. After growing international pressure for her release, Roxana was freed on May 11, after 100 days in prison.
On May 30, Roxana returned to Fargo, where over 100 well-wishers, including Governor John Hoeven, greeted her at the airport. He called her “the daughter of North Dakota.” In 2010, Roxana published a book about her ordeal, Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran. In 2013, she was finally able to give her commencement speech at Concordia College that she had missed in 2009.
Roxana continues her foreign correspondent career in London for CBS News, but she always tries to return to Fargo every summer.
Dakota Datebook by Trista Raezer-Stursa
Sources:
- Associated Press. “Miss North Dakota Wins Pageant Scholar Award,” The Fargo Forum, September 12, 1997, pgs. A1, A14.
- Devine, Terry. “Fargoan on Fringe of War, The Fargo Forum, March 26, 2003, pgs. A8-A9.
- Huebner, Robin. “Covering the World,” The Fargo Forum, April 14, 2019, pgs. A1, A9.
- Larson, Anna G. “Saberi Focuses on Perseverance in Speech to Grads,” The Fargo Forum, May 6, 2013, pgs. A1, A3.
- Prather, Shannon. “Cultural Appreciation Will be Yearlong Focus for Miss N.D.,” The Fargo Forum, June 21, 1997, pgs. A1, A16.
- Smith, Kelly. “Fargo Family Worries about Daughter Arrested in Iran,” The Fargo Forum, March 1, 2009, pgs. A1, A7.
- Smith, Kelly. “Saberi Returns to Old Friends, Supporters,” The Fargo Forum, May 31, 2009, pg. A10.
- Wallis, Dave. “Miss N.D. Lends Helping Hand,” The Fargo Forum, January 28, 1998, pg. C1.
