I grew up in International Falls surrounded by the North Woods and Rainy Lake. We spent every summer at our island lake cabin in Canada, and being raised in all that wilderness and water really shaped me, to which so many can relate. After graduating, I spent over 15 years living mainly in Montana, Arizona and New Mexico, but relocated to Anoka, Minnesota with my husband in 2014 when we started a family. We enjoyed living there, but we both felt there was so much missing from our lives. I always wanted to raise our kids in a small town and live in the woods again, and he missed the mountains and wilderness of New Mexico where he was raised. When the pandemic happened in 2020, we had already been house searching for about a year looking for a community that fit us better. We looked at some really nice communities but nothing truly clicked. We had always camped and travelled on the North Shore but we never imagined we could live here. The Pandemic changed all that with how much the world embraced teleworking, and my husband's job closed their office and went remote. In September 2020 we were camping in Judge Magney State Park, and it sort of hit us like a ton of bricks that there was only one place we truly wanted to live. We were thrilled to close on our house in July 2021 after a very long search and sacrifice to make it happen. We still look out the window at the Big Lake and the woods and pinch ourselves. This community where we get to raise our kids and be a part of is the best I could ever hope for and I am so grateful.


As one of the first faces (and smiles) to greet students and families at Cook County ISD 166, what are some of the favorite parts of your job?

How I love working at Cook County Schools. It is composed of some of the kindest, smartest and hardest working people you can meet, and our whole purpose is to shape and prepare young people for the rest of their lives. Which is an honor to be a part of to say the least. I see myself as a supporter—supporter of teachers, students, parents, etc. I really enjoy that role and although I hope to return to teaching eventually, this job has been a great re-entry to working full time after staying home with my kids for several years. By far my favorite part of the job is the students, 436 of them in fact (or somewhere around there!). As a teacher I enjoyed knowing the students I directly taught, but now as an Administrative Assistant, I get to know the entire student body on some level, plus their families, as well as the rest of the school staff. There can be very stressful moments or days, but in the end we are doing it for them which makes everything so full of purpose. I love learning from others around me and becoming better in some way, and it energizes me to be around so many inspiring educators, whether they are teachers, paraprofessionals, administrators or have some other role at the school. I love the diversity of my job as I could be doing one of 100 different things on a daily basis, it never slows down and changes often, which is both challenging and fun. 

 

Baking year round but especially during the winter holidays with my girls is a tradition I certainly get from both my grandmothers and my mother. I loved baking and cooking with them as a child and I still love to bake. My grandmother made lefse all my life but never taught me how. I really wanted to learn, so I took a class at the Norway House in 2018 and now I make it fairly frequently. I have her grill and her lefse stick, which is so special.  A tradition that we have embraced within our own family unit and made it our own for about the last four years is the celebration of the Winter Solstice, which also happens to be my birthday. I love the deeply Scandinavian, earth-centric rituals of the Solstice like creating a beautiful Yule Log to burn and baking a sun bread. With my family we read "The Shortest Day" by Susan Cooper and even if maybe they don't want to read it, they can't say no because it's my birthday hahaha! I love the hope of the return of the sun and looking toward the Spring and new life. It's been so wonderful to move here and find these things are so embraced by the community, and the Winter and Summer Solstice pageants are probably my favorite events of the year.

 

What is the best advice you were ever given and how did it impact your life?

One of my absolute favorite poets is Mary Oliver, and she gives some of the best advice in her well-known poem, "The Summer Day."  She wrote, "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"  The whole poem is cathartic, but those last two lines especially hit home with me as a young adult. We all want a good life, but I feel valuing this one life (and everything else's one life from your best friend to the tiny toad in your flower bed) places intrinsic value on all of it and compels you to live with intention. Compassion for yourself and others brings happiness and purpose.

Lastly, if you could return to earth as any animal, what would it be and why?