By Maud Clawson
I’d like to tell you about a lady I met a couple of weeks ago who helps out Mini-School with her own two hands. Her name is Dorothy Spencer. She has been a typist here at MHS for two years and says “typing is a good thing to know.”
Dorothy is very important to us because she types our famous Com-Mini-Cations for us, and as Big D says, “She does a fantastic job – I wouldn’t even have to proofread it. Besides that, she takes a personal interest in Mini-School and identifies with the kids and their adventures.”
Dorothy has a lot of adventures herself. She enjoys running, biking, hiking, and cross-country skiing. She helped found Grandma’s Marathon, a 26-mile race from Two Harbors to Duluth. Dorothy also helps in the organization of the Twin Cities Marathon, which has the largest cash prize in the U.S. She has organized races and marathons for the past 12 years and has run in many shorter races and four marathons. She is sponsored by Reebok, a well known running shoe.
In 1982 Dorothy traveled to Nepal and hiked in the Himalayas and up 16,000 feet into Mt. Everest. “At that height you can’t even boil water,” says Dorothy. Dorothy says that all this activity “makes me feel good. It gets rid of stress and keeps me in tune with myself. I don’t want to put chemicals in my body because I feel I can always improve and then I have a feeling of self accomplishment.”
I asked Dorothy what she thought of Mini-School. “Everyone learns at different levels,” she said. “I think Mini-School is good for the mainstream kids because they can see how other people learn and how other people feel. I also think kids in Mini know more about real life.”
On October 21st Dorothy left for China to bicycle through 12 cities from Shanghai to Beijing (Peking) where the great wall is located. I’m sure she will have another wonderful adventure.
Dorothy Spencer is a fascinating, outgoing person and fun to talk with. Thanks, Dorothy.