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Each year, the first full week of April, we will dedicate two posts to Humans of Neenah as a special edition: Heroes of Neenah. This next week we will be honoring the following two Neenah Heroes.
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Mya Halverson has lived in Neenah her whole life, and her grandparents went to school here, so her family has been here a while. With her family and friends here in Neenah, she would never leave them. She feels like it would be a good place to raise a family and have kids.
Mya really enjoys the fact that there are so many unique places and stores in downtown Neenah, and that the people and shop owners are nice. There are different stores, stores for anybody and everybody. Downtown Neenah to her is like a city within a city. Mya also feels like the people of Neenah are down to earth and easy to get to know. Neenah is a big city, but it feels like a smaller town because it’s so easy to get to know the people. Mya’s favorite memories are the ones she made with her family. Mya and her cousin would go to Neenah Library to read books with other kids. Another favorite has always been live mannequin night during the Christmas time because her cousins participated in it, and it would be fun to try and make them laugh. She is going to be in it next year. When she was little she would watch her dad play street ball with his friends. Neenah is a beautiful city with many activities that go on. Article by Rebekah Gander Gina Sanders Larsen, owner of Sanders Larsen Wordsmithery for Marketing & PR, is not just one of the many faces you see everyday walking downtown Neenah, but a very important one. Gina grew up in the small town of Pulaski about 45 minutes from here. Her parents were both teachers, and she was the middle child of three. Her life was simple and loving, such a peaceful life up in Pulaski. Soonly enough, Gina grew up, falling in love with a tall lean engineer. Eric and Gina Larsen are still happily married to this day. Deciding to move to Neenah for Eric’s job, they had two children, Lydia and Henry. Gina started her business fifteen years ago. She originally made it a stay at home business, so she could care for her daughter and have flexible hours. Gina later realized, that she needed more space for her work. She decided to take an office in downtown Neenah, right above Tim Shel Cafe. She was then able to be more visible to citizens, have more opportunities, and to set a border between her home and work life. Gina’s business consists of many different types of writing. She does copywriting, contract blogging, white papers, and company papers. Copywriting usually means writing content that goes into things like advertisements, speeches, press release papers, and content for websites. She is a very reliable worker, and is recommended by many people. She is especially useful since it is easier for the writer to hire her only when they need her, instead of hiring a contractor permanently all the time. Gina is also very active in the community as well. She is a girl scout leader, a 4H parent volunteer, a member of her church’s fellowship team, and is on the Board of Neenah Music Parent Directors. Neenah is very special to her, and her quality work and memorable stories can account for that. One of her favorite memories of the town is in December long ago, when Lydia was little girl. She has always had a passion for horses, and there were carriage rides that night. The driver was on his last route when the Larsen family wanted to hop on. This driver’s shift was already finished, but looking at Lydia’s face glowing with anticipation for this ride, let them hop on just for the way home. I had a lot of fun getting to know Gina Sanders Larsen who is not just a citizen of Neenah, but a person of Neenah. In this photo, Gina Larsen is in the brown sweater on the right. She is standing with the owner of her favorite coffee shop, TimShel. Gina gets coffee from TimShel and spends time in it quite frequently, because her office is right above it! Article by Emily Johns Olga Emelyanova moved to Neenah from Russia. Although her family had to adjust to many differences in public transportation and healthcare, there are many things they love about Neenah. “The weather here is similar to how it was back in Russia, but the winters are more mild.” She loves that the weather isn’t always the same and that they get to experience all the seasons. She also loves the upkeep of the city and how the parks and sidewalks are made so well. This adds to the safety and beauty of the city. “One last thing we like about Neenah is the Park and Rec Center. My children go there to have fun and enjoy the activities they offer.”
Interview by Josh Hernandez Michael Altekruse, is a mental health coordinator, a psychologist, who is currently working for Neenah Joint School District. He’s worked with adolescents his whole life. He is very eager to reach out to students early on, and get them through tough times. Thanks to people like Dr.Altekruse, who see the bigger picture about a person, young people have been given hope. He’s lived in Neenah for 17 years with his wife and kids. He mentioned it’s a good place to live, with high reputations for our schools, and a supportive community. People in Neenah support one another, and watch out for each other.
“Family is very important to me. The fact that my kids could roam around and ride their bikes further than the driveway and know they’ll still be safe is comforting. I think Neenah is a safe place to live, and there are a lot of parks and activities for me and my family to do. Hey, Neenah is very kid friendly place.” He went on to explain how he loved the location of Neenah, because it’s right in the middle of a few towns which supply each other's needs. Article by Morgan Krivitz |
AuthorStudents of Neenah High Arete PBL Academy Archives
June 2016
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