As Baby Boomers retire, the Millennials get set to become our new leaders.
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By Elizabeth Foy Larsen Photography by Michael Schoenecker
Franz Vancura always thought he’d practice law in the Twin Cities. That certainly was the plan when a Minneapolis law firm hired him in 2011. But when his new employer encouraged the recent University of St. Thomas School of Law graduate to take a year to clerk for a judge before jumping into life as a corporate attorney, Vancura didn’t pursue any opportunities in the metro area. “I applied to any judge north of Brainerd,” said the New Ulm native. Vancura’s interest in the region started when he was young. His family owned property on Little Webb Lake in Hackensack and he had happy memories of fishing and relaxing with friends and relatives on the lake. “I had a real connection with the geography and nature of the area,” he said. When he was hired by Judge John P. Smith in Walker, Vancura packed up his Minneapolis condo and moved to a cabin in the woods on Horseshoe Lake. Most people with big-city ambitions would find the off season at a resort community like Walker a little sleepy. But Vancura thrived, especially after he bought an English Springer Spaniel and spent his weekends walking through the woods hunting grouse and pheasants. “It became harder and harder to justify leaving a place I loved and a community I’d gotten involved in to go back to the Twin Cities,” he said. “I just came to the conclusion that I’d be happier and have a better quality of life staying up here.” At 31, Vancura is at the old end of the generation dubbed the Millennials. Born between 1981 and 2000, the group gets its name from the fact that it’s the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. According to Minnesota Compass, there are 1.5 millennials living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes—200,000 in Central Minnesota. That’s compared to 1.3 million Baby Boomers—the demographic bulge of people born between 1946 and 1964. As the Boomers retire, these young people are crucial to our region’s future.
2ND QUARTER 2014
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