{"id":54,"date":"2013-08-30T19:25:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T19:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/currents.winonastateu.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2017-06-14T16:55:12","modified_gmt":"2017-06-14T16:55:12","slug":"reggie-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/2013\/08\/30\/reggie-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Role Model: Reggie Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Reggie<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why REGGIE JOHNSON \u201985<\/b> would make a great mentor. The Baxter Healthcare executive instantly puts you at ease with his open manner and warm laugh. He\u2019s quick with a lighthearted story \u2013 about growing up in the Chicago area or his football exploits \u2013 which he typically ends it with a serious piece of advice or life lesson. And it doesn\u2019t hurt that he looks like he could still step out on the field and break one for a touchdown.<\/p>\n

For more than a dozen years, Johnson has worked with 100 Black Men of Chicago, volunteering his time and talents to enhance educational and economic opportunities for African American students. He first heard about 100 Black Men of Chicago from a friend and began spending a few afternoons a week at Michele Clark Middle School on the west side of the city. \u201cI saw a lack of role models in our community,\u201d says Johnson. \u201cIt didn\u2019t take long for me to find my way with 100 Black Men of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n

The high-energy Johnson, who was a biology major and running back at Winona State, expanded his role to serve as mentoring chair, recruit fellow corporate executives as mentors, fundraise, and, more recently, work with fellow chapter members to coordinate a college recruiting fair for African American and Hispanic students that may be the largest in Illinois.<\/p>\n

Like many of his fellow mentors, Johnson is busy with work and family responsibilities. But he notes that 100 Black Men of Chicago is making a big difference just by sharing time and providing an example to kids who may have limited opportunities. \u201cA sense of duty and responsibility calls most of us to participate,\u201d says Johnson, \u201cbut watching the kids, actively engaged and learning, is what keeps you there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s easy to see why REGGIE JOHNSON \u201985 would make a great mentor. The Baxter Healthcare executive instantly puts you at ease with his open manner and warm laugh. He\u2019s quick with a lighthearted story \u2013 about growing up in the Chicago area or his football exploits \u2013 which he typically ends it with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[18,19,20,7,8],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wsu-magazine","tag-100-black-men-of-chicago","tag-baxter-healthcare","tag-mentor","tag-winona-state-university","tag-wsu"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2013\/08\/johnson1-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PQMT-S","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1377,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/1377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.winona.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}