A Glimpse into Who Jon Oleson Is…

I've lived a full life that has enriched me, tested me and developed me into who I am today. Genetic givens have been complemented by a life full of variety.

I was born in Iowa on a Sunday morning while my dad was leading his Miller, IA, church in worship. Being a preacher's kid in a Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church home seems to have had a lot to do with the fact I am a very social person and someone who knows the importance of being well behaved. A family story reports that I was fascinated by watching the chickens in the back yard and insects as they crawled around a window. I thought I'd become a farmer as a kid and in fact worked for a potato farmer in the Red River Valley for four years. I loved being outside, working with dirt and animals and found tractor engine pitches were great accompaniment to occasional needs to sing. Gertrude was my first Yorkshire sow, an FFA project that taught me a lot about the need to discipline myself to take good care of animals, manage costs, time pig sale marketing, and how to make money. My parents had already helped me develop good money management habits by 'negotiating' a spending budget that included giving a portion of my earnings for church, savings and some fun in exchange for being paid for mowing the lawn. I recall telling Dad that I didn't need to be paid because I liked to mow (it gave me an adult feeling too) and that I needed to contribute to family needs but he insisted - perhaps because of the grand plan to teach me the value of money.

The next Oleson home was in Nerstrand, MN, where former Governor Quie was a young man in my dad's church. I started grade school after my family moved to Bird Island, MN, so I was able to start doing more on my own. I often biked to friends and to the hide-away spots where young boys love to hang out. One favorite was playing in the fairgrounds. Family and community values meant we never vandalized or did damage; we just played and talked. I had two sisters, one two years older and one two years younger. Rhoda, the younger one got leukemia and died at the age of four. Our parents helped us through that experience but I still muse once in awhile about what her life and our relationship would have been like if she hadn't died so young.

We moved to Halstad, MN, when Dad was called to a 3-church parish in the fertile Red River Valley. My experience in living in small towns would end with my high school graduation but I was by then forever shaped by small town values, the opportunity to try anything - sports, public speaking opportunities, music, jobs - and the realization that "everyone" knows you, so that what you do would likely get back to Mom and Dad. It was in Halstad that my interest and involvement in politics began. The doctor's wife had started a Teen Republican Club. I remember going door to door with campaign literature, collecting campaign pins and studying topics of the day. The wide variety of experiences were great in many respects and have led to many forks in the road for me since I enjoyed so many of them.

An early major fork was to decide what I wanted to do when I grew up. I had drifted away from wanting to be a farmer, and by college application time had decided I wanted to be a teacher so that I could become a counselor (two years of teaching were a requirement back then). Concordia College - Moorhead was just 35 miles away and had a good reputation. I graduated with a B.A. Cum Laude with a major in History-Political Science and a double minor in Education and English.

While at Concordia I attended an "Urban Church" semester break course in New York City. It was set up by the chair of the Religion Department who later gave three churches in Duluth, MN, my name as someone he'd recommend for a youth director position they wanted to create. Following my interview I moved to Duluth's West End. Building a sense of community included fun social events and faith building activities. My experiences as the youth director were very rewarding, but after two years I chose to pursue my original career goal to become a teacher.

My preparation to start teaching began about the time I married. I met the woman who became my wife while planning a walk to promote awareness and financial support for development projects in different parts of the world. We both were driven by a desire to help others and bonded both for that reason and for the chemistry that causes people to fall in love. We were blessed with 3 healthy, beautiful children. We were the traditionally active young family: swimming lessons, music lessons, Little League, soccer and other sports, church school, confirmation, and intro to French classes. While our children were still young we volunteered to take foster children on two occasions. The first were two young American Indian children, the second two were teenage boys who came from Vietnam after an extended stay in refugee camps in Thailand. Added income from weekend and summer jobs as a milkman helped satisfy big appetites!

Schools in the early '70's began to add elective choices, and my "Contemporary World Problems" class was both a joyful challenge to prepare for as well as a popular choice for students. Other courses I taught included Government and American History, in addition to a hand full of others. I like kids, and my attitude of respecting them in the process of helping them learn, mature, develop good life habits, and self-discipline paid off in a variety of expressions of appreciation. One that I'll never forget occurred when a half dozen students came to my door to tell me some kids poured stuff on cars in my neighborhood and they wanted a bucket of water and rags to clean it up for me.

My in-classroom teaching career spanned 23 years. I had classroom stints in two junior highs and a high school that were separated by two "teacher on special assignment" positions. One was to co-direct the Duluth Public School's "Ethnic Cultural Non-Sex Bias Center" to coordinate curriculum enrichment, locate and schedule ethnic resource people into classrooms, and 3-day workshops for teachers. The other was to serve as the K-12 Social Studies Curriculum Specialist to coordinate periodic curriculum revision, textbook and other instructional support adoptions, and to set up seminars designed to stimulate creative teaching methods.

I still enjoy doing things with young people. My priority now is focused on nine grandchildren, but I also have been a tutor for students in a 6th grade reading class, a mentor to high school students wanting to improve attendance and grades, and a co-chair for the annual Bloomington Teen Job Fair. Working with young people has dominated my adult life, especially since being a camp counselor during two summers in my Concordia College years. Time with kids went beyond teacher contract time during my 33 years as a teacher and administrator---basketball coach, an anti-pollution club I started, going to their games, plays and other activities.

The 33 year span in my educator career went beyond the classroom and principal's office. It was a rare year if I wasn't serving on at least one committee or special project. Sample topics included a special education advisory group, curriculum revision committee, assessment - including coordinating scoring on MN state-wide social studies tests - staff morale, providing more support for students returning from incarceration, faculty councils, and Title IX. For two years I taught evening classes for teachers that covered educational research information from a unique American Federation of Teachers (AFT) program that summarized researcher findings. The AFT called on me to present seminars on select topics in Salt Lake City, Corpus Christi, and Albany, NY.

I've always appreciated opportunities to do something different. In the mid-1980's I enrolled in a MBA program at the University of Minnesota - Duluth. Despite some great classes and professors, the pull to stay in education convinced me to transfer credits to the University of Arizona, and in 1995, I was awarded a Ph.D. in School Administration and Teacher Education. My school administrator career actually began years earlier as an assistant principal at Central High School (Duluth) where I focused on 7th and 8th graders and - for variety - 12th graders.

The most difficult period of time in my life occurred when my wife and I were unsuccessful in saving our marriage. Despite counseling - professional and pastoral - we separated for several years and eventually divorced. Perhaps things I learned while observing and talking with students who experienced divorce helped, but in any event all three children of mine have survived reasonably well, and each is happily married. I've learned a lot about myself through the counseling sessions, through self-reflection, and speaking with friends. I initially decided not to remarry but eventually met someone in my church's "single again" support group who changed my mind. We will celebrate our 15th anniversary in August. My wife, Sandy, and I work hard at communication, at supporting each other, at working to adjust to each other, and agree that we are married "'til death do us part." We married in 1995 (I got two more great children in the deal!) and in 1997 moved to the Twin Cities for a job opportunity and to be closer to my aging parents who lived in Northfield.

In 2002 after 33 years in K-12 education, I retired from my educator career. I enjoy work and benefit from interacting with people. I believe I am in some of my most productive years. So I saw my retirement as more of a re-treading for the next challenging opportunity. I formed Better Working Relationships LLC in 2003 as a conflict management business. A number of factors have helped me work with people who are experiencing strained relationships and organizations that want their employees to work more effectively together. Working with adolescents taught me a lot about human nature! Going through a divorce taught me a lot about how complex relationships can be and how important it is to be thoughtfully open with other people. Working in schools gave me experience in incorporating nonverbal communication and understanding the significance of different personality and learning styles in effective interpersonal relationships.

I have decided to seek the privilege of representing Minnesota in the United States House of Representatives because I am very concerned about the partisan bickering that has dominated Congress for years. Our nation is currently experiencing profound challenges that will affect the future of our country. We simply must work better together to meet and conquer these challenges. As someone who is deeply concerned with the future of our children, our children's children and beyond, I campaign and want to serve you in Congress on behalf of our future. With your help we can return our nation to a true democracy that creates quality legislation for the nation, not just a few. We can make Representative-constituent communication effective again. We can meet challenges and become a stronger nation.

I invite you to join in this campaign.