Kurt Zellers, who was just elected the speaker of the Minnesota House, grew up steeped in farm life in North Dakota. Zellers feels he has a unique upbringing that will help him excel at his important new position.

Zellers recalls his childhood growing up on a farm and the backbreaking hard work that goes into running one successfully. There, Zellers affirms, he acquired his strong work ethic, spending his summers making about $1 an hour picking rocks and driving a combine for 16 hours a day. Zellers asserts that there is "nothing that compares to picking rocks in the middle of July on the wide-open prairie with no wind and 100 percent humidity."

Zellers' charisma and humility are borne from his time in North Dakota with his family. There, his grandfather and father taught him how to run a functioning farm, ensuring that every single task was taken care of properly, making sure to never cut a corner. Fellow state representative Mary Liz Holberg tells the Twin Cities Pioneer Press that Zellers always brings a "farm-kid charm to the table," something all of his fellow politicians appreciate. It is his farm-bred integrity that shines through.

In Zellers' office now hangs a painting of a farm in his native North Dakota that his great-grandfather built. There is a toy John Deere tractor on his desk and a picture of his grandfather in a field of sunflowers. Zellers looks at these reminders of his upbringing every day, remembering the important lessons he learned on the farm.