All Grown

Eliza Swedenborg

UP Laura Groenjes

...and doing fine

Stories of
Life After
Graduation

Featuring:
Eliza Swedenborg
Laura Groenjes
Luke Garrison
Danielle Harms
Greg Boone

Edition 1, Volume 1
What’s Inside?
1

Teacher in Training
Larua Groenjes, Page 3
“Welcome to the life of a kindergarten
teacher.”
What it’s all Laura was an English major during
her time at Gustavus. She was the
About: Editor in Chief of the Gustavian
Weekly. Read more about her life as a

I
imagine I was not the only one wondering, teacher for Teach for America on page
while standing in the sun outside the chapel, 3. She is documenting the ups, down,
lined up to walk into Hollingsworth Stadium, and pleasures of being a teacher
on that fateful day we all graduated how, I was going in training at http://lauragroenjes.
to survive beyond the confines and without the
blogspot.com
comforts of Gustavus Adolphus College. I imagine
Laura Groenjes
I was not the only one wondering to whom I was
going to talk, with whom I was going to eat lunch, argue politics, and
talk about books and big ideas. I imagine I was not the only one just a It’s all (News) To Me
little worried about what life Out There would be like. Something told Luke Garrison, page 4
me it would all work out, that it would be a survivable adventure, and
that I would make new friends with whom I would do all those things I “I walked across the stage to receive
was concerned about missing from my days as a Gustie. my diploma and before I knew it I was
When we left Hollingsworth that day, we all embarked on our own
adventures. Some of us went on to law schools like William Mitchell moved out and on my way back home.”
and medical schools like The University of Wisconsin Madison,
others went into the Lutheran Volunteer Corps. and other service Luke Garrison was a Communication Studies major at Gustavus.
organizations, started their careers, or relocated to other parts of the He also anchored and reported for GAC TV and was a Gustavus
globe. Student Senate co-president with Shawn Grygo. Luke is now
All Grown Up is a publication to keep us in the loop with each producing for KSTP-TV in St. Paul, MN. He writes on page 4
other. It is a collection of stories, poems, photographs, and articles about his new career and reflects on his four years at Gustavus.
written by our friends and classmates from our college days. Tales from KSTP-TV is online at http://kstp.com
the Real Life beat about the struggles and rewards of post-collegiate life.
In this issue we have five stories from farmers, teachers, and newsies
from the class of 2009, and several photographs. We hope to make this I’m Not Mad, Just Disappointed
publication as accessible as possible, and are planning on launching a Danielle Harms, page 5
website to make all of the articles available on the web. In the next issue,
we hope to also include a page of brief stories, shout-outs, and other
short snippets from readers who do not have the time, means, desire, or
“Thus far my time in the Republic of
energy to write a full article. Korea...has been fraught with revelations
If you would like to submit anything to All Grown Up in the future, and realizations.”
please do not hesitate to send an email to boone.greg@gmail.com,
or contact me some other way. If it can be printed we can accept it. Danielle Harms was an English and Political Science major at
Thanks, and enjoy the first issue of All Grown Up. Gustavus. She was the Features editor for The Gustavian Weekly in
Greg Boone 2009 and swam for the Gustavus Swim Team. She writes on page
Editor 5 about the process of adapting to a new country and a new job.
Danielle is a teacher at a private academy in South Korea. Danielle
How to Tell Time on the Farm is blogging with Greg Boone at http://kgsm.gac.edu/rok
Eliza Swedenborg, page 2

“I have learned how beautiful time is in

the shape of an egg in my hands, fresh
out of the coop (who wants pancakes for
breakfast?)”
Eliza is a working on an organic farm in Minnesota. She was
an Environmental Studies major at Gustavus and was the
Commentary Editor for the Gustavian Weekly. She was also the
co-founder of the student farm. She writes about her time working
at her new farm on page 2. More information about the Big Hill
Farm at Gustavus can be found online at http://adventuresatbighill.
blogspot.com/
Danielle Harms
How to tell time...
2

Eliza Swedenborg

This morningIFrank
woke up to colors Lisa
would drool over.
that there are many things that just have to be done when
they have to be done; planting a new succession of carrots,
Pinks and purples swam over the outstretched skyline of watering the green house and harvesting wild raspberries
my big-sky prairie country, my home until this October. when the wild raspberries are ripe, for example. There’s
The sun is rising noticeably later every day now, and I’m also things like addressing the presence of the rouge
starting to get that fall feeling, though this year I realize it chicken, house wren or the multi-bodily-disfunctional cat
has nothing to do with a return to school. that is inexplicably in my cabin, regardless
It has everything to do with that gut feeling
Sweet dreams and of what my plans were before I discovered
of time. I have left the 9 to 5 for a while and moonbeams... it. The chickens especially always keep me
am learning about how to live on farm time. Farm time, on my toes.
as I have begun to understand it, demands that you live in
the present, but it is also about acknowledging the cycles On top of this, I am learning about people time. I have
of time we live in. known for a while that the moon keeps the time in my
belly, and I am beginning to understand what that means.
I have learned how beautiful time is in the shape of an egg Expelled from the exclusive world of the college student
in my hands, fresh out of the coop (who wants pancakes (early-twenty-something-year-olds only, please), I am now
for breakfast?). I have learned to replace the ticking of surrounded by men and women of all ages. I have friends
a clock with the light “plunk” of green beans dropped with babies. I have friends with grandkids. I have friends
into big black crates. I now know that just because I am who preparing for the birth of their first child. And I am
caked in mud doesn’t mean pappa black-bird will agree watching my own grandparents move into a home where
it’s a good time for me to wash off in the pond – I don’t they can get more help. It’s difficult for me to admit how
blame him for being protective of his babies, but I wish he old they are now; I can’t imagine how difficult it is for
wouldn’t swoop so close to my head. I have also learned them.

What about me? Well, I’m still working on the farm.

Right now it’s cricket-tomato-first acorns-o’clock. I
am very much looking forward to wool sweater-hot
chocolate-apple pie-o’clock, not to mention starting my
own family-o’clock – I’ve got some things to do before
I get to the latter, of course. Starting with some sleep.
Good night, friends! Sweet dreams and moon beams…

...on the Farm

The beauty of time in the shape of an egg in her hands. Eliza Swedenborg

Background photo: Sundials by Carmichael. Creative Commons.

 3
I’ve been in Colorado for about four weeks now
“Welcome and spent almost every day in Denver Public Schools
to the life of a training. I’ll be teaching full day kindergarten at Sabin
kindergarten International Elementary School in Southwest Denver.
teacherer...” Sabin is an International Baccalaureate Primary Years
Program School (http://sabin.dpsk12.org/IBPYP), which
basically means we teach inquiry based instruction,
encouraging our students to become critical thinkers
– even in kindergarten! When I was applying for jobs
back in January, Sabin was my top pick. I feel so lucky to

Teacher have ended up here. The IB program means that I have

a lot more training and expectations than most first year

in
teachers, but I’m really excited to learn more about IB
and implement the strategies in my classroom. I definitely
think it’ll make me a better teacher overall.

Training As with most schools that TFA places teachers in,

Sabin is a school that serves primarily students from lower
income households. Almost 80% of our students qualify
for free or reduced cost lunch. Academically, our students
All photos by LauraGroenjes perform far below the state average in Colorado, but we’re
closing in on district averages.
Denver Public Schools typically graduates about
50% of its seniors each year. The achievement gap is huge
“Ms. Groenjes, and the majority of students who don’t graduate are from
I like you even minority populations. Colorado Govenor Bill Ritter has
more than I like set a goal of halving the achievement gap in the next
decade and the legislature last year allocated $1.8 million
chocolate!” to develop a pilot program to assist six school districts
From top to bottom: The cubbies are labeled, the class mascot is looking in closing achievement gaps associated with race and/or income.
friendly, and the pretend kitchen is assembled. This room is ready for Colorado believes that Teach For America can be part of the
students to fill it.
solution, which is why the Colorado corps was able to expand from
Laura Groenjes just 50 corps members in last year’s corps to 125 in 2009.

I spent most of last night coloring with markers. The night

before, I spent hours cutting out circles for a “days of the
school year” caterpillar. In the background: Jack Johnson’s songs
Although many people may brush kindergarten off
academically, believing the misconception that kindergarten is only
about playing games and making art projects, this is definitely not
from the Curious George movie. the case in today’s educational environment when even kindergarten
Welcome to the life of a kindergarten teacher. is high stakes. If I don’t develop in my students a love for education
It’s been a whirlwind summer.
I left for Colorado the morning A Kindergarten Teacher Wears and a healthy curiosity, if I
don’t provide them with the
after graduation and was thrown Oh So Many Hats fundamental reading, writing,
into Teach For America induction
training literally 30 minutes after Footwear Latticing Engineer: Tying approximately 20 pairs and math skills they need, they
will leave my class even more
arriving in Denver. After four days of shoes a day (some several times each day). disadvantaged than when they
of Denver-specific orientation, Search and Rescue Professional: Helping stranded 5 year arrived.
I flew down to steamy Atlanta, I’m extremely nervous about
olds down from the high monkey bars since 2009.
Georgia, where I spent most of the year to come, about the
my summer in TFA’s institute (aka First Aid Responder: Applying band-aids to every wound, pressure on me as a teacher to
teacher bootcamp) teaching 2nd from severe to nonexistent. succeed in this all-too-important
grade summer school.
The five weeks I spent in Relationship Expert: When “so-and-so doesn’t want to be my job after only 3 months of
training. However, I’m also
Atlanta were the most stressful and friend,” I’m there to offer sage advice like, “did you try asking absolutely giddy to meet my
challenging weeks of my life, but so-and-so to be your friend? I bet they’ll say yes!” adorable 5 and 6 year olds this
also the most rewarding. Quality week. The benefit of kindergarten is: even if I bomb a lesson, if
teaching is a difficult skill to learn in a matter of weeks and the I fumble my words, add incorrectly – at the end of the day, my
schedule TFA put us on allowed for only 3-4 hours of sleep per students will probably still love me.
night. Often, it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, Life is shaping up quite nicely here in Denver. Galen has taken
but I survived and can confidently say it was worthwhile. I grew as a up the hobby of home brewing beer and will be starting his second
teacher in the span of five weeks and formed such a close bond with batch this week. As soon as we get settled into our own apartment,
my teaching partners and our adorable 8-year-old students. One I’ll be a bread-making fiend again. If you’re ever in the Denver area,
student in particular drenched my shirt in tears on the last day of let me know. I can promise homemade beer, bread, and a spare bed!
school – all because he didn’t want to see me go.
It’s All News To Me
4

Luke Garrison
I didn’t know how I would feel following the apartment. Just a couple
graduation. Gustavus was a place where I thrived of real-world events, but even
and felt very comfortable. I knew most everyone though they suck at the time—
there and I felt like I had a pretty good grasp you live to see another day.
on what I was doing. Well, May 31
came around and I really didn’t I have a blast being accountable And those days
have time to process all I was for writing newscasts that reach have been
going through. At 4 a.m. the thousands of Minnesotans each great overall.
next morning I would start a I have a blast
day.
new life at KSTP-TV in the Twin getting a beer with
Cities. friends after
work, or meeting up
I walked across the stage to receive my diploma for coffee and catching
and before I knew it I was moved out and on my up with whoever, and playing
way back home. Now I am a news producer for in an old man’s beer league
Channel 5, and I love it. I also moved into a new for softball. I have a blast
apartment on Grand Avenue in St. Paul with being accountable for writing
two fellow Gusties, and I love that too. The weird newscasts that reach thousands
thing is, I haven’t missed Gustavus as much as I of Minnesotans each day.
thought I would—although I am going back for the
first time this weekend to see a wedding, and that Gustavus gave us a sample of
might change my feelings. the real world, but I like that
my “bubble” is now popped.
The one thing I have noticed is that One thing I have Each day brings new
Gusties really do stick together. We have noticed is that challenges and
a great network that seems to always Gusties really do excitement, but we
appear (in Minnesota anyway). Even in are here and we are
stick together.
this new life that we all are embarking working hard to put
on right now, I really feel a our skills and talents
connecting point. into good use.

Even though now I do not feel like I have a I hope all of you are
great grasp on all that I’m doing, I feel comfort enjoying post-college
knowing that Gustavus prepared me for this life as much as I am,
point. I actually think it’s kind of exciting to be and please, let’s stay in
out on your own, paying your own bills, and being touch. This is a great
accountable for what you do. I have learned this way to do so.
the hard way.

To give you a sample, my car got towed in

downtown Minneapolis and I had to pay $250
to get it back. My second roommate (who will
remain anonymous) had two rent checks bounce
and we had to fight with our landlord to stay in
 I’m Not
5
to Schoolhouse Rock. All in all, it’s been a pretty decent couple of
months.
Despite that, I’ve been plagued by the nagging feeling that
something is amiss. Initially I chalked this up to a mild case of
culture shock, but I think more accurately what I have felt could

M
arise in all countries and cultures, whether familiar or new, and
should more accurately be called joining-the-real-world shock, a
different illness altogether.
Settling into life in Korea has been smooth, surprisingly
smooth, moving at a business-as-usual pace, like a canoe quietly

A
pushing away from the shore. Even as part of me is proud of
a relatively easy transition from one stage to another, a more
resistant part of me wishes I were on a boat making a few more
ripples. I suppose I have been unconsciously awaiting the big
finale to my real-world arrival.
Where is Korea’s version of a momentous dinner with

D
Hank Toutain blowing a train whistle and announcing the
official commencement of a transformative journey? After a
guy named Eddie picked me up at Seoul’s airport and a day’s
training at headquarters, my job started and everyone returned
to their normal routines. I have now honed in on a voice inside
my head that was sounding a naive alarm, saying, “Who forgot
to push the pause button? Can’t you see that I am jumping into
Above: The ancient palace of Chandeokgung in Seoul. Below: Seoul’s skyline at the real world? Shouldn’t there be streamers and an orientation
dusk seen from Namsan Tower. week, for goodness sake?” But of course for nearly everyone around

Just Disappointed
me, this is life as usual, and the Real World certainly wouldn’t
operate very well if it paused whenever a new member joined the
ranks.
I suspect the presumption that every new start will inevitably
Danielle Harms be as ceremonious and communal as the one Gustavus created for

T hus far my time in the Republic of Korea (which is the one

in the south, lest there be any confusion) has been fraught
with revelations and realizations. Some were of a practical nature,
us is a dangerously wide-eyed expectation. I now see how much we
have to owe to the tireless planning that resulted in our welcome to
Gustavus, a framework diligently designed to provide us each with
like my discovery that watery bathroom our pick of situations engineered for strong relationships to form
floors actually indicate cleanliness and “Where is Korea’s version of a momentous impressively fast. It turns out
the real world does not offer
not a combination of neglect and bad
aim. Some made me scratch my head, dinner with Hank Toutain blowing a the same service (although
like the many ways the English language much of it does offer
is misused and then illuminated on train whistle and announcing the official universal health insurance,
signs or stitched on shirts, like the tailor
advertising “costume-made suits” and the
commencement of a transformative journey?” which is nice).
So I really did graduate
store selling Boston, Massachubatts hoodies. Some have taken time, from college, and there are no Gustie Greeters lurking in the bushes,
like my full awareness of the many ways for-profit education can be waiting for the right moment to pounce with whistles, the rouser,
a pain in the backside. Others have been down-right disturbing, like and 15 assigned friends. Nor are there dorms with open doors,
the stark realization that I am, really and truly, no longer a college campus centers frequented by those employed to enhance my daily
student, and that perhaps all of life does not organically unfold like enrichment, or academic buildings packed with highly trained
my experience at Gustavus Adolphus College. professionals under orders to give me a “whole person” education.
I admit, life since May 31, 2009 has not been the pits. In There is no PJ’s Pizza on production night of the Weekly or long
fact, it’s been a pretty exciting adventure. I moved to a charming pre-exam nights in the library that buzzed with the feeling you
suburb northwest of Seoul with the quaint population of just over that we were all in this together. Luckily South Korea’s situated in
a million people. I started teaching elementary students English a small corner of a big world, with lots of people, many of whom I
in a hogwan, and I figured out what a hogwan was (I admit, the bet enjoy good friends, quality conversation, shared experiences, and
order of events was not ideal). I moved into an apartment, received occasional fun. But college was a sweet ride, one I am going to miss.
a piece of paper I am told indicates I have health insurance, and I’m just glad Gustavus set the bar high.
even received a couple paychecks. I learned how to use chopsticks, And that’s my revelation for today. As for the soggy bathroom
explored ancient palaces, listened to Buddhist monks meditate in floors and merits of non-profit education, well, those will have to
a serene temple surrounded by skyscrapers, and joined a group of wait for another day. This boat might be leaving the port, but on the
expat writers publishing a literary journal that will soon include one way out, I’m taking my time.
of my poems. Last week I even got my second graders to sing along
Photos by Danielle Harms
 6

Snippets and Shouts:

Brief dispatches from the real life beat
Dateline: Goyang, Korea:
Since this publication is
all about us keeping in touch
with each other, we wanted to
make it as easy as possible for all
of us to do it. Whether it is law,
medical, or graduate school, full
Image: Google Maps time teaching for the first time,
or the sheer business of everyday life out there in the real
world, we know that some of you do not have the time
or energy to write something as long as the articles on
pages 2-5 but may still want to contribute. This page is
for you. On this page you can contribute short stories,
under 100 words, to say a quick hello, tell someone or
a group of people, you are thinking about them or that
you hope to see them soon or just report in that you are
alive and well wherever life has taken you.
While we will definitely execise editorial control in
determining what we publish on this page, it is, for the
most part, totally open for whatever you want to post.
To submit a snippet for this page, send an email with
“All Grown Up Snippets” in the subject line, and your Geilo, Creative Commons
current location in the text to boone.greg@gmail.com
and we’ll do our best to get you in the next issue. Each We all met so many wonderful people during our time
snippet entry will look something like this. at Gustavus, All Grown Up is a hand-crafted way of
Greg Boone keeping up with all of them at the same time. We hope
you found something in the stories here, and most of
all, we hope you were able to get a window of insight
into the people and things you may miss from our alma
mater.

Nancy Harms
To submit an entry or a snippet or to let us know
someone who wants to subscribe to this magazine please
send an email to Greg Boone. We can take poetry, non-
fiction, fiction, photos, and anything else that can be
printed. Thank you for reading this first edition of All
Grown Up. See you next time. Joe Lencioni, ‘05 http://shiftingpixel.com
Thanks for Reading...

Danielle Harms

And wherever in the world this may find you,

Greg Boone Happy Adventures.