Jennifer Armstrong
Jennifer has been responsible for developing and maintaining the Parents United Web sites since June 2004; she has been a public school advocate since the day her oldest got on the bus for Kindergarten.
Her journey took her from helping out in the classroom to leadership positions in the elementary PTA, to assuming leadership of the citywide parent association in Saint Paul. As PTA president (back in fourth and fifth grades), she began a weekly recap of education news that evolved into a statewide distribution of 500. She also started a school Walk-A-Thon that ultimately raised over $100,000 for the school.
At the citywide level, she brought a four-member, very tired board of directors to a seventeen member, highly energetic board that spoke five languages. Ever-conscious of the growing cultural communities of Saint Paul, Jennifer worked to embed diversity in all aspects of the association.
Her specialty at all levels has been recapping highly complex topics in understandable ways, “It’s like slicing the turkey at Thanksgiving. There’s no way to take it all in in one bite.” From tackling the Achievement Gap in Saint Paul to describing school funding in Minnesota, Jennifer works to help people understand the problems, the issues and the opportunities.
“It’s one thing to do the research and say this is what we know about this topic, it’s another to ask, ‘So now what can we do about it?’ What I hope people begin to understand is that we can all make contributions at multiple levels, from encouraging our children to have diverse relationships to challenging the barriers to full participation experienced by our parents. This is about advocating for our kids at home, at school and in the community.”
In addition to her involvement at school, Jennifer has been taking her daughter’s Girl Scout troop camping 5-7 times a year since first grade. “This summer we went outdoor rock climbing in South Dakota and it was a blast. These girls can do so much more than I could at their age. It’s not enough to say I’m proud of them, I think they’re awesome.”
Prior to becoming a freelance writer and communications consultant in 1996, Jennifer did marketing and communications for financial services for ten years. She has a B.A. in English, Communications and Women Studies from the University of Colorado, Boulder and has done post-graduate studies in Organizational Communications.
Jennifer move to the Iron Range in 2006 where she continues her work from a farm where she sees deer in the yard virtually daily.
 | | | | | | | Starting Kindergarten was traumatic. We had no clue about school choice, missed Kindergarten roundup, and were appalled that our little boy had to "take a test" to go to school (early childhood screening). By the time we got to the first day of school, I was a mess.
The conference with the Kindergarten teacher really helped. I vaguely knew that "good moms" were supposed to help out, so that was one of the things I wanted to ask about. But I've always been a "big picture" kind of person, so I asked, "Of all your hopes and dreams, of all the things I could accomplish for you—in the classroom or school wide—what would you like for me to make happen this year?"
She paused (perhaps startled) then said, "A playground. What we need most is a playground."
A year later, with the help of a lot of people, the school had a playground.
Jennifer has been building playgrounds ever since. |
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