Dannilee Olson’s reaction when I asked her to be on the radio with me was priceless. Her eyes lit up, her eyebrows nearly left her forehead, and her mouth dropped open as she let out the biggest happy gasp I’ve heard in the two years I’ve asked people to join me for SCTCC’s monthly WJON radio segment.
“So that’s a yes?”
She was so excited, and when I mentioned that normally people dread being asked to talk on the radio, she said that being a Marketing Sales Management student, this was kind of her jam.
But the radio was really a follow-up to a larger question: Dannilee had been asked by her instructor Becky Shand, and Campus Life Director, Shaun Keeley, to be the student speaker at this year’s ceremony.
"As her two years at SCTCC were winding down, seeing that she had multiple job offers due to her hard work and drive, I approached her about a new challenge and asked her if she would like to be the 2024 class commencement speaker. Tears of disbelief welled up in her eyes along with gratitude that I once again showed her I believed in her skills to take on this honor to stand in front of her peers and congratulate them," Shand told me.
Dannilee has been involved in many things on campus, and if you’ve seen her, no doubt you’ve noticed her infectious smile or had a good conversation with her. So after I learned that she was going to be the student speaker, I wanted to make sure that I did a profile on her, which is exactly what we were confirming when I asked her about the radio.
A week later, we were sitting in the Library, she settled on a comfy couch, ready to talk about how she got to this point in her life and why instructor Shand calls her “my spitfire.”
Like many graduates this year, Dannilee moved to online learning during high school due to covid.
“I had to return my prom dress because prom was cancelled, which was devastating,” she smiled.
But moving to online classes had some benefits. She was a manager at Dairy Queen all through high school and she ended up working a lot more due to the shift in availability.
During her senior year, she decided to just go completely online because it was much easier than the hybrid option. However, even though the consistency was good, she didn’t learn as much about college options.
She took a pause while she thought about the path that might have been.
“Covid definitely changed everything. And everything happens for a reason. I wouldn’t have been able to start working full time, met all the people I’ve met. I definitely wouldn’t have started this job I’m in right now, which means I probably wouldn’t have been led to this school.”
The path that might have been, though it may drift across her thoughts occasionally, wasn’t even a consideration for her present or future.
After Dannilee graduated from high school, she was at a loss for what to do, so she took some time off before making a decision. She started work in sanitation at a meat factory, where she quickly moved up into management.
She loved it.
“I realized that I wanted more education,” she said.
She was also doing her body no favors with that job: “I was ruining my body. I’ve had a lot of injuries from work, so I knew that I needed to start using my brain.”
Her supervisor was an SCTCC alumni, and he told her that she needed to connect to SCTCC.
All Dannilee knew was that she was interested in business, so she toured and was instantly drawn to Marketing Sales Management because of the broad range of topics that are covered.
“I decided to give it a try. I started full time,” she mentioned, almost as a side note.
Because her first week? Even though she was taking a full load, she managed to fall in love with the program, made friends right away, joined Collegiate DECA, and was asked to be president of the DECA club.
Speaking of DECA…
“Tell me about DECA,” I finally said.
Once again, her face just lit up.
“I love DECA. It’s life changing,” she smiled.
In 2023, Dannilee placed first in Sales at the state competition and the team and advisor Becky Shand traveled to Florida for the International Conference. She leaned forward a bit and took on a more earnest look: “DECA really teaches you how to be professional, how to work with people and networking. You don’t understand how important it is to know people because who you know can create what you can do.”
With the skills she’s learned in her Marketing Sales Management classes with Shand and in her Collegiate DECA experiences, along with her natural abilities, Dannilee has a job lined up with State Farm. She knew that she wanted to go into sales, and this seemed like the right fit. She working on the licensure process, and she’ll be starting work for a new branch in New Brighton on June 1.
But she’s still got a lot of work to do before then, as well as a lot of soaking up the last days at SCTCC.
“I’ve been loving meeting new people every day. Everybody is so welcoming here, and it’s really cool because you can learn different points of view and perspectives of people from all over,” Dannilee told me. “In your program, your classes are filled with people who are like minded, but then you get to take classes with people who have nothing in common.”
As for her last big thing at SCTCC—the student speech at Commencement—her excitement is hardly contained.
After asking Dannilee to take the role, Keeley noted: “It was like she was simultaneously honored and thrilled for the opportunity. A lot of times I see a small amount of nervousness in their eyes after it settles in that I've asked them to be the student speaker, but Dannilee never had that look during our conversation. She just always looked excited and ready to get to it!”
Her get-to-it attitude is one that instructor Shand saw right away. She's always on the lookout for ways to show her students that there is a lot more inside them than they ever thought possible, and Dannilee was no different. As Shand watched her talents grow over the two years at SCTCC, one thing was always consistent: there was never a challenge that Dannilee wasn't willing to take on, and she brought as many of her classmates along for the journey. The culmination of this class's time at SCTCC is no exception.
“I’m definitely a little nervous because there’s going to be a lot of people, but I’m so excited to spread my word and my story and give everybody some encouragement because it’s a big step to graduate.”
You wouldn’t know that she’s nervous, especially since everything has led to this point. On Thursday, Dannilee will be at Commencement rehearsal, where she’ll stand behind the podium and try out her speech in front of just a few people in preparation for Friday. Shaun Keeley will be there, Becky Shand will be there, I will be there to watch as she gets ready to make her final mark as a student at SCTCC.
Then she’ll graduate, and her first order of business as an SCTCC graduate will be as a guest on radio station WJON with me, Monday May 13 at 10:40 a.m., just the start of many more alumni opportunities to come!
Shand gets the final word: "Look out world: there is a 'spitfire' heading your way!"