By Alumnus Trish Laumann
For three years I was in Mini-School. I grew very close to all the teachers and had a special bond with each one of them. Joanne was the one that I would turn to when I had a problem or just needed someone to talk to. So when I was asked to interview her, I was more than happy to do it.
We started out the night by meeting at Denny’s at 4:00. Before we started the interview, we reminisced about the St. Louis River trip last year. We remembered Shawn Johnson being the only guy on the trip and how we called him just “one of the girls” and how everybody was scared to go in their tents because they were frightened of the porcupine. We had a beautiful campsite overlooking a creek down below, and Missy Quaas dropped her bowl down the cliff and had to borrow one from Pauline.
After about one hour of just having fun talking (because it’s been so long) we started the official interview. My first question was, “What are you doing now?” She told me she is currently working at a prosthetics company making custom seating systems for people who have to live in wheelchairs. One thing she likes about it is she gets to choose the hours that she has to work. She’s excited that she gets to work with power tools and it’s a casual enough atmosphere that she can wear jeans and a t-shirt.
My second question for Joanne was, “How has your life changed since you have been in Mini-School?” She responded that she is working with different people and she looks out a huge window (something Mini doesn’t have) and watches the sunrise every morning. She really feels she is accomplishing something. Along with all that, she gets to work with her sweetie and she makes more money.
The third question was “What do you miss?” She said she misses the kids and teachers, and she also misses laughing as much as she used to, because all the kids were so funny.
I asked Joanne if she had any advice for future or present Mini-School students. Her response to that was, “Do what you really love.” She said that so many people get stuck in jobs they hate and dread going to work everyday. She also said to be proactive instead of reacting to whatever comes along.
The last questions I had for her were, “Where are you going?” and “What are you excited about, now?” She told me she is very content with her life right now (marriage, home, work, family). She’s living more in the moment now. An exciting thing that has happened for her is that her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, has moved to Minnesota from Arizona. She lives about two miles from Joanne and Brad, so they can go over and take care of her as much as possible.
Joanne Johnston spent a large portion of her life working with Mini-School, and even though she’s very satisfied with her current life and occupation, she said Mini was the best job she has ever had.