[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/JoleneDancaAlumniProfile-scaled.jpg” title_text=”JoleneDancaAlumniProfile” _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.8.1″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
For Jolene Danca\u00a0\u201899, \u201813, at the core of everything is relationships.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Relationships with her family. Relationships with\u00a0her community. Relationships with\u00a0the\u00a0students she oversees.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jolene, who was most recently an assistant principal\u00a0at the Winona Area Public Schools Middle School,\u00a0is taking her love of relationships to the next level after being promoted\u00a0in September\u00a0to principal\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0Alternative Learning Center. Jolene is now\u00a0leading a\u00a0staff of nearly 20\u00a0and\u00a0overseeing\u00a0more than 100 students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jolene, a\u00a0Turtle Lake native,\u00a0received both her bachelor\u2019s degree in recreation and leisure in 1999 and\u00a0a\u00a0K-12\u00a0educational leadership\u00a0certificate\u00a0in 2013.\u00a0She\u00a0credits part of her love for relationship-building\u00a0in Winona to WSU and the personal attention and focus given to her during her time in college.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c(The\u00a0WSU\u00a0community)\u00a0takes\u00a0a lot of pride in their campus and in the\u00a0environment\u00a0they create,\u201d Jolene said. \u201cBecause of the fact that it isn\u2019t huge, you\u2019re\u00a0able to make genuine authentic relationships.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n That\u00a0was exactly what\u00a0Jolene needed in her life when\u00a0pursuing her\u00a0degrees, she\u00a0said.\u00a0Jolene had originally started at\u00a0university twice the size of WSU, but it\u00a0was not\u00a0as\u00a0relationship-minded and became a toxic environment for her.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWinona State was a second chance for me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was exactly what I needed.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Jolene \u2013 who played\u00a0for the WSU’s Girls Volleyball Team\u00a0\u2013 said\u00a0her coaches, teammates, and the staff within the athletic department became\u00a0a second family to her.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI remember walking through the hallways and Coach Sawyer\u2019s office was right there,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat a guy to take you under his wing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Her professors were the same.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople at WSU always had empathy and understood where I was at,\u201d she said, adding that she felt she could open up to professors in a way she couldn\u2019t at her previous university.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n WSU was the springboard that helped her gain momentum.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since\u00a0her time at WSU, Jolene has gone on to open two small businesses while also working full time in the Winona Area Public Schools district. She owns\u00a0Scrappin\u2019\u00a0on the Ranch,\u00a0which is\u00a0both a renovated rental property for hosting scrap<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>booking\u00a0events\u00a0and\u00a0a three-site campground\u00a0for hobbyists, outdoor enthusiasts, and vacationers.\u00a0She also owns Eupraxia Winona, a fitness\u00a0center that specializes in kettlebell classes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEverything in my life is really about relationships, community and family,\u201d Jolene said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In many ways, those groups combine into one another \u2013 similar to how they did at WSU. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn a school, you\u2019re in a community and in a family,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it truly is a family.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For Jolene Danca\u00a0\u201899, \u201813, at the core of everything is relationships.\u00a0\u00a0 Relationships with her family. Relationships with\u00a0her community. Relationships with\u00a0the\u00a0students she oversees.\u00a0\u00a0 Jolene, who was most recently an assistant principal\u00a0at the Winona Area Public Schools Middle School,\u00a0is taking her love of relationships to the next level after being promoted\u00a0in September\u00a0to principal\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0Alternative Learning Center. Jolene is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":3391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[968,880,937],"tags":[130,863],"class_list":["post-3388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured-post","category-hp-recent-post-1","tag-alumni","tag-community"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/JoleneDancaAlumniProfile-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PQMT-SE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3388"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3400,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions\/3400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}