Where did you grow up, and what first got you interested in studying theology?
I grew up as a military brat, which means we moved around as a kid. I lived in Germany, California, Georgia, Belgium, and Arizona. I lived in southern Arizona the longest, and that is where I graduated from high school. I stumbled into my first job in ministry during college, through a youth ministry internship between my junior and senior year, and I ultimately ended up choosing ministry as a career path. That internship was almost thirty years ago, and I have been doing congregational ministry ever since.

If applicable, what did you study as an undergraduate?
I attended Concordia College–Moorhead and studied social work and child and family studies. I was supposed to do a social work internship after my junior year and had one set up when I connected with someone doing recruitment for summer ministry work. Long story short, I was meeting with a social work professor and told him how I couldn’t stop thinking about it even though it wasn’t in my field. His response was, “Shawna, if you don’t think working with kids in the church is social work, I’m going to fail you and make you start all over again. This is exactly what you are supposed to be doing.” There were a lot of hoops he had to jump through to make that happen and work for me, but he was right.

What led you to pursue theological education here at Luther Seminary?
Over the years, I have felt a growing desire to seek ordained ministry. For a myriad of reasons, the timing hasn’t seemed right. Recently, my youngest daughter headed to college and I’ve found myself with more time, now that I’m not running around to kids activities. This additional margin in my schedule and the seminary schedule’s flexibility of being able to take classes mostly remotely meant the stars were finally aligning and the timing was now.

What degree program are you in at Luther Seminary, and what are you hoping to do with your seminary education?
I am in the MDiv program, and I hope to serve congregation as a Pastor

What is the best part of studying as a distributed learner, and what do you do when you’re not studying?
I appreciate the opportunity to be a distributed learner. I live in the Twin Cities area but am balancing seminary with a full-time job. Taking classes as a distributed learner eliminates commute time and reduces how much time I take off work for classes, all of which is very helpful. I work as the Director of Children, Youth, and Family Ministry at Saint Andrew Lutheran Church in Eden Prairie, MN. Saint Andrew is a great congregation, and I am delighted to lead a talented CYF staff doing really good ministry.

What’s your favorite book or movie?
My favorite book is always changing. I love to read, although my reading for pleasure has significantly slowed down now that I am taking classes! I just finished reading Tyler Merritt’s new book “This Changes Everything”—it was fabulous.