Ms. Joni Churchill is the new counselors office and student records secretary in the Owatonna High School Career Center. Ms. Churchill has been an OHS staff member for eight years, working as a paraprofessional before taking on her new role. 

Ms. Churchill has lived in Minnesota her whole life, and she grew up in Princeton, Minnesota. After graduating from high school, she attended the University of Minnesota Duluth, and she later transferred to Mankato State University. Churchill said, “I was going to be an English teacher and started working as a para while I was going to school, and I loved that so much I just stuck with it!” Ms. Churchill has worked in the Stride program with students who have developmental and cognitive disabilities as well as in the Discovery program for a while, and as an academic paraprofessional in classrooms. 

Ms. Churchill is a big dog lover, and in her free time, she can be found hanging out with her family, shopping or working as head coach for the NRHEG Cheer team. State Champion Ms. Churchill said, “I grew up cheering in my youth and wanted to continue my passion for the sport.” She is now NRHEG’s varsity head coach.

Ms. Churchill is most excited to find new, adaptive ways to help students here at OHS. She said, “I look forward to what’s to come in the future and the learning and growth I’ll experience through taking on the responsibility of this new opportunity.” She enjoys how students keep her job interesting and how there’s never a dull moment. Students can find Ms. Churchill at the front of the career center located next to the administration office.