Karl Altenburg Oral History, 2013 (Part 1)
Dublin Core
Title
Karl Altenburg Oral History, 2013 (Part 1)
Subject
Concordia Language Villages (Moorhead, Minn.)
Carl B. Ylvisaker Library (Moorhead, Minn.)
Concordia Orchestra
Concordia Band (Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.)
Description
This oral history covers the following topics general information about interviewee, Concordia Summer Camps, Concordia Language Villages, average day at Concordia, Carl B. Ylvisaker Library, Concordia Orchestra and Band, computer science as a major, orchestra tour to Europe, and regional music tours
Creator
Altenburg, Karl (Donor)
Publisher
Concordia College Archives
Date
2013-10-12
Contributor
Altenburg, Karl (Interviewee)
Breitbach, Emily (Interviewer)
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Format
Oral Histories
Language
English
Type
Moving Image
Identifier
HH0274OHa
Coverage
1989
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
Breitbach, Emily
Interviewee
Altenburg, Carl
Location
Carl B Ylvisaker Library (Moorhead, Minn.)
Transcription
EMILY BREITBACH: Umm.. So just some general questions? What year did you graduate from Concordia?
CARL ALTENBURG: 1989.
EM: Okay, and what was your major?
CA: Computer Science.
EM: What did you do with the major?
CA: Ahh.. well initially umm... as I was graduating I decided that I wanted to go into the military so I perused that through both the air force and through the navy. I was accepted into flight programs from both the air force and navy and eventually when into the navy… so... a couple years later I returned to the Fargo Moorhead area and began perusing a masters degree in computer science and I worked as a graduate assistant over at NDSU in computing. Also went on to teach computer science here at Concordia and also after completing my PhD I taught computer science at NDSU and also at Mayville state university. I also serve as a signal officer in the north Dakota army national guard working with computers and currently work for the state of north Dakota in business intelligence again working with information technology so I have used my degree quite a bit.
EM: Oh yes you have so, what made you choice Concordia in the first place?
CA:A Well probably a variety of reason I think one reason is one of my best friends was attending here so I kinda followed him. Um.. I had a long association with Concordia I umm attended various summer camps. I remember very early on attending a art summer project here at Concordia, the Concordia sports camp I believe I attended here when I was in elementary school and then starting elementary school through high school I attended the Concordia language villages. I did I think 5 or 6 years of German so I had that affiliation already with Concordia my mother attended her so umm and ahh.. I was interested in music interested in a variety of thing and so umm.. my with my friend coming here my mother having been here the affiliation before the association before it just kinda seemed like a natural fit
EM: So you said you went to the language villages, what were some of the experiences you had or what was your experience going there over the years?
CA: Well it was umm it was very fun I think the I think the very first one I went I got sick. I remember I had to go home and after about 3 or 4 days or something like that but went back later in the season and ahh enjoyed it very much, met some really neat friends I think it was a very, you know, molding, kinda shaping experience for me being exposed to different cultures, different languages, and you know, just being away from home those kinds of experiences initially for 2 weeks and then ahh you know, the credit camp for a month at a time so those were very good experiences. So and in the end I ended up I ended up have been to Europe many many times so I have actually used my German that I learned and other languages it kind of allowed me to study some other languages for both business purposes for pleasure and research and with the military I’ve ahh used those skills and also then helping integrate and work with refugees that have come over here to the United States we had through Lutheran social services we brought some people over from eastern Europe and only and one of the few common languages that we had was German so I was able to help integrate them. So you know used it both ways so good experiences both at camp and then using the experience later on in life
EM: So what was an average day like on campus when you were here? What were some of the kind of you routines?
CA: You know, for me I was you know… kinda depends upon what time period. If I remember thinking back to say about 25 years ago my first semester of my senior year I was already married. I was kinda busy looking at getting employed so looking into the military I was taking several 300 400 level classes I remember one of them was Dr. Johnson's anatomy and physiology class and biology which was very rigorous I was interested in human cognition, memory, things like that kind of blending computer science, artificial intelligence, biology and so it was a very good class he had a project where we were supposed to do some research to find out more about a particular topic and I chose neuro science, cognitive neuro science that was that involved a lot of work here at the library. Coming here quite a bit getting to know how to use the photo copier how to request things through like interlibrary loan, how to use the databases, how to search journals and things like that. So I spent quite a bit of time here in the library I would get here I would probably get on campus about I think 8:30 or 9 o’clock there was a Professor Grimstead I remember who taught religion I think I was taking my senior religion class and I remember getting here you know early sometimes late I think he kinda told me after about 3 times being tardy a few minutes if I was tardy again he would drop me a grade or something like that so I improved my attendance after that or at least my timeliness for that class. So got here pretty early after the first couple classes you know, I’d go to the dinning hall probably get something very light for lunch you know being a senior didn’t have a whole lot of money and so just trying to keep expenses low and you know spend a lot of time studying I think the highlight of my day was being in both in the orchestra and the band that was a very good experience I enjoyed that quite a bit. The ah… so I everyday I believe it was from 5 to 6 or something I think was the time period we would go and enjoy you know practicing that kind of stuff and sometime during the day I would practice on my own. I played string bass so go to the music hall and play there. And that’s you know I had quite a few close friends probably my closest friends on campus came from orchestra and band and then if there was an assignment due in computer science often times we’d get started on those as early as we could probably one due every 2 weeks and it would literally take you know 30 hours of work or something like that 30 or 40 hours of work in the laboratory. So weekends were spent in the lab every night, so a lot of times sitting in front of a computer trying to figure out some very small problems. I know that I think that I took data base and I might of been taking operating systems which were both very challenging courses. So umm yeah that was a typical day started early went long spent a lot of time in the library and a lot of time in the computer lab.
EM: So with music I’m assuming you went on tours did you go on tour and where did you go and how where those?
CA: Well the tours were great they as a freshman at the end of my freshman year it just so happened that the Concordia orchestra decided to tour Europe so umm yeah so we went to umm England Germany France I believe the Netherlands and that area so it was a very nice very nice tour I got to see quite a few things and got to know people pretty well. And then some of the other tours mostly other tours were rather regional in nature Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada. I remember going up into Canada with the band Montana. So you know every time we did go some place we'd always you know had a very good time you know spending time on the bus again just you know its probably why the friendships were so strong in that organizations because you spend you know a fair amount of time with those people. Umm… bringing homework with you know that you were on tour for a week or whatever you still had homework to do so those kinds of challenges, umm you know showing up in strange locations to set up a make shift concert shell or whatever umm being apart of the road crew setting up things and tearing things down you know always very fun.
CARL ALTENBURG: 1989.
EM: Okay, and what was your major?
CA: Computer Science.
EM: What did you do with the major?
CA: Ahh.. well initially umm... as I was graduating I decided that I wanted to go into the military so I perused that through both the air force and through the navy. I was accepted into flight programs from both the air force and navy and eventually when into the navy… so... a couple years later I returned to the Fargo Moorhead area and began perusing a masters degree in computer science and I worked as a graduate assistant over at NDSU in computing. Also went on to teach computer science here at Concordia and also after completing my PhD I taught computer science at NDSU and also at Mayville state university. I also serve as a signal officer in the north Dakota army national guard working with computers and currently work for the state of north Dakota in business intelligence again working with information technology so I have used my degree quite a bit.
EM: Oh yes you have so, what made you choice Concordia in the first place?
CA:A Well probably a variety of reason I think one reason is one of my best friends was attending here so I kinda followed him. Um.. I had a long association with Concordia I umm attended various summer camps. I remember very early on attending a art summer project here at Concordia, the Concordia sports camp I believe I attended here when I was in elementary school and then starting elementary school through high school I attended the Concordia language villages. I did I think 5 or 6 years of German so I had that affiliation already with Concordia my mother attended her so umm and ahh.. I was interested in music interested in a variety of thing and so umm.. my with my friend coming here my mother having been here the affiliation before the association before it just kinda seemed like a natural fit
EM: So you said you went to the language villages, what were some of the experiences you had or what was your experience going there over the years?
CA: Well it was umm it was very fun I think the I think the very first one I went I got sick. I remember I had to go home and after about 3 or 4 days or something like that but went back later in the season and ahh enjoyed it very much, met some really neat friends I think it was a very, you know, molding, kinda shaping experience for me being exposed to different cultures, different languages, and you know, just being away from home those kinds of experiences initially for 2 weeks and then ahh you know, the credit camp for a month at a time so those were very good experiences. So and in the end I ended up I ended up have been to Europe many many times so I have actually used my German that I learned and other languages it kind of allowed me to study some other languages for both business purposes for pleasure and research and with the military I’ve ahh used those skills and also then helping integrate and work with refugees that have come over here to the United States we had through Lutheran social services we brought some people over from eastern Europe and only and one of the few common languages that we had was German so I was able to help integrate them. So you know used it both ways so good experiences both at camp and then using the experience later on in life
EM: So what was an average day like on campus when you were here? What were some of the kind of you routines?
CA: You know, for me I was you know… kinda depends upon what time period. If I remember thinking back to say about 25 years ago my first semester of my senior year I was already married. I was kinda busy looking at getting employed so looking into the military I was taking several 300 400 level classes I remember one of them was Dr. Johnson's anatomy and physiology class and biology which was very rigorous I was interested in human cognition, memory, things like that kind of blending computer science, artificial intelligence, biology and so it was a very good class he had a project where we were supposed to do some research to find out more about a particular topic and I chose neuro science, cognitive neuro science that was that involved a lot of work here at the library. Coming here quite a bit getting to know how to use the photo copier how to request things through like interlibrary loan, how to use the databases, how to search journals and things like that. So I spent quite a bit of time here in the library I would get here I would probably get on campus about I think 8:30 or 9 o’clock there was a Professor Grimstead I remember who taught religion I think I was taking my senior religion class and I remember getting here you know early sometimes late I think he kinda told me after about 3 times being tardy a few minutes if I was tardy again he would drop me a grade or something like that so I improved my attendance after that or at least my timeliness for that class. So got here pretty early after the first couple classes you know, I’d go to the dinning hall probably get something very light for lunch you know being a senior didn’t have a whole lot of money and so just trying to keep expenses low and you know spend a lot of time studying I think the highlight of my day was being in both in the orchestra and the band that was a very good experience I enjoyed that quite a bit. The ah… so I everyday I believe it was from 5 to 6 or something I think was the time period we would go and enjoy you know practicing that kind of stuff and sometime during the day I would practice on my own. I played string bass so go to the music hall and play there. And that’s you know I had quite a few close friends probably my closest friends on campus came from orchestra and band and then if there was an assignment due in computer science often times we’d get started on those as early as we could probably one due every 2 weeks and it would literally take you know 30 hours of work or something like that 30 or 40 hours of work in the laboratory. So weekends were spent in the lab every night, so a lot of times sitting in front of a computer trying to figure out some very small problems. I know that I think that I took data base and I might of been taking operating systems which were both very challenging courses. So umm yeah that was a typical day started early went long spent a lot of time in the library and a lot of time in the computer lab.
EM: So with music I’m assuming you went on tours did you go on tour and where did you go and how where those?
CA: Well the tours were great they as a freshman at the end of my freshman year it just so happened that the Concordia orchestra decided to tour Europe so umm yeah so we went to umm England Germany France I believe the Netherlands and that area so it was a very nice very nice tour I got to see quite a few things and got to know people pretty well. And then some of the other tours mostly other tours were rather regional in nature Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada. I remember going up into Canada with the band Montana. So you know every time we did go some place we'd always you know had a very good time you know spending time on the bus again just you know its probably why the friendships were so strong in that organizations because you spend you know a fair amount of time with those people. Umm… bringing homework with you know that you were on tour for a week or whatever you still had homework to do so those kinds of challenges, umm you know showing up in strange locations to set up a make shift concert shell or whatever umm being apart of the road crew setting up things and tearing things down you know always very fun.
Original Format
Oral Histories
Duration
9:48
Time Summary
0:27- General information about Interviewee
2:00- Concordia Summer Camps
2:50-Concordia Language Villages
4:30-Average Day at Concordia
5:41- Carl B. Ylvisaker Library
6:56- Concordia Orchestra and Band
7:33- Computer Science
8:30-Orchestra Tour to Europe
8:53-Regional Music Tours
2:00- Concordia Summer Camps
2:50-Concordia Language Villages
4:30-Average Day at Concordia
5:41- Carl B. Ylvisaker Library
6:56- Concordia Orchestra and Band
7:33- Computer Science
8:30-Orchestra Tour to Europe
8:53-Regional Music Tours
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Collection
Citation
Altenburg, Karl (Donor), “Karl Altenburg Oral History, 2013 (Part 1),” Concordia Memory Project, accessed April 24, 2024, https://concordiamemoryproject.concordiacollegearchives.org/items/show/584.