The shoe fits for Vonasek at AHS
By Ashlyn Berg
Published March 17, 2022
The fear that you get when a shoe is flying past your face is a fear like no other. It scares the BEEP out of an 11 year old. The teacher threatening to do it again by yelling “shoe fly!” The same fear rushing back and making you want to cry. You know if you do anything wrong, the shoe will be directed at you. The size 10.5 wide sneaker flying through the air will make any misbehaved child sit respectfully in their seat. Mr. Vonasek is the best shoe thrower.
Perfectionist is the one word that everyone uses to describe Loren Vonasek. He is always on a mission, always walking at a very fast pace. His short hair has a light grey tint to it and is always perfectly spiked up. I do not think I have ever seen him in anything other than a polo shirt and khakis. His fingers are always cracked from clay artwork; he claims it’s because he is allergic to kids. He usually wears a chunky shoe, similar to your average “dad” white New Balance sneaker. You will often find him with his middle finger up, flipping off the conversation for which he does not have an answer to. He might even curse by saying BEEP out loud.
Loren can make anyone laugh, whether it is new friends, old friends, or even the waiter at a restaurant. Being around Loren can brighten anyone’s mood. Everyone has a big smile on their face when around him, unless he is throwing shoes.
Mr. Vonasek was my art teacher throughout my elementary career. He was always the teacher that scared me the most. If the class was bad he would bring out three cups, a red, yellow, and blue one. These were used as a way to keep the class quiet; blue was good, yellow was ok, and red was bad. You NEVER wanted to get to red. Students knew to behave. Even though I was very fearful of Mr. Vonasek, art was still one of my favorite classes.
Loren and my mom are in a little friend group that they call “The Round Table. I am able to hangout around this group of people and get to know them. Loren always stuck out because he is considered the goofball of the group and is always enjoyable to be around. We have taken many mini trips together. We have done a few different escape rooms, which is one of Loren's favorite things to do. He loves the rush that you get when playing. He also likes the socialization of spending time with the group. I understand this feeling. Their friend group consists of a few elementary school teachers that always had the same lunch time. Their lunches were always fun and full of laughter, and it suddenly became a friend group. Loren is always the main cause of the laughter. He says that he loves the Round Table because they know how to have fun and when not to cross lines. Having awkward conversations is not one of the things that he enjoys. It is never awkward with The Round Table. They are always excited to talk to each other more and more and catch up on each other's lives. There is not silence when being around them.
I went with some of the members on a trip down to the cities and we ate at a restaurant called 3 Squares. The whole restaurant could hear the laughter that was booming from our table. The whole table agreed that it was not too obnoxious for the surroundings, but I am sure the other customers would disagree. The Round Table really enjoyed the waiter, who was very funny and joked around with the group. Having a nice waiter or waitress is one of the things that Mr. Vonasek looks forward to when dining out. He also has to enjoy the food, and 3 Squares is very delicious. Julie Jenson (a member of The Round Table) overheard our waiter talking to his parents, who were sitting at the table next to ours. They were chatting about meeting the waiter's girlfriend soon. Julie became intrigued and asked about the waiter. The whole table was shocked and laughed hysterically. We were all surprised that Loren did not give his spiel about prenuptials to the waiter. The best advice he gives is when he tells people to get Prenuptials.
If you are ever looking to find Loren, you will probably find him at school. My mom always jokes around with him about how he never leaves. He is very dedicated to his job, he loves doing it. He would consider himself a “workaholic” as he enjoys the focus of working hard. Mr. Vonasek told me he spends a lot of time working to make excellent lessons for his students. When asked if Mr. Vonasek would ever have a dog; he responded with “the dog would die” due to the lack of time he spends at home.
The kids love Loren. I asked a group of students if they enjoyed the classes they had with Mr. Vonasek, they all responded with a positive thumbs up. He is very helpful in the classroom and a great teacher to talk to. The conversations are always easy flowing. He makes sure to stop by every student's work station to chat and see if they need any help. The students like his support and invite him to watch sporting events, which always gives him a big smile.
Loren went to college at Bemidji State University in 1984. He originally wanted to go to school to become a veterinarian, but decided to drop out because it was “too hard.” He changed his major to art, industrial art, and elementary education. One of Vonasek’s professors really pushed for him to go into education because it was easier to find a job, so he took the advice and is happy he did. He started as a long term sub in 1986 in the Brainerd Lakes area. In 1988-1989, he was offered a position for elementary art at Rippleside Elementary School. He accepted the offer, but the original high school teacher decided that he wanted to stay in the elementary school for one more year. Loren was moved to teach art at the high school for the year instead. Then, the elementary art teacher whom Loren was supposed to replace suddenly passed away. Loren was then bumped back into the elementary school to teach art. He taught art to kindergarten through six- graders for 30 years until his art program unfortunately got cut at the elementary school. He moved back into the high school to teach art which has been an adjustment for Loren, but he is taking on the challenge.
Loren has never been afraid of a little challenge (besides vet school). He says yes to everything and everyone. In Elementary school, Loren struggled a lot. He did not get good grades and his parents were very worried about him. Loren said he was considered a failure until seventh grade. He thinks it might have been puberty that changed him, but all of a sudden he was an A student. If he was not getting an A in a class, he would freak out.
Loren has talented and artistic parents, which is where his special talent came from. They taught him at a young age to excel at the skills that you do, and he did. Loren was in many art programs in high school including painting, calligraphy, and sculpting with paper-mache of large forms. He was also involved in sports. He competed in track and field and he was a manager for the volleyball team. For a while he was the head coach for the volleyball team, still from time to time, you will see Loren as a line judge at the high school volleyball games.
Mr. Vonasek helped Kelly Blake, the music teacher at Aitkin High School, with the set designs of the musical the concert choir put on every year. Mrs. Blake would require all the students to help set paint and put the set together. My favorite part of set painting was all the jokes that Mr. Vonasek would make. They were so random, but yet so funny. He was always there running around with extra paint and brushes. I talked with Ava Carlson and she has some experience with laughing too hard at Loren’s jokes. She said, “When you're supposed to be serious, Loren will continue to crack jokes. The more you laugh, the funnier it gets. He has an infectious laughter.” Ava put it in perfect words, there is something about Loren’s laugh that just makes everyone laugh.
Having someone in your life like Loren Vonasek is something magical. Having that person be by your side, ready to make you laugh if you are in a bad mood. He is ready to support you in anything and everything. Loren is the irreplaceable person that you look forward to talking to and being around. My Mom gets so excited when she gets to hangout with “The Round Table” especially for what the topic of conversations will be. The questions or topics Loren will bring up are always a surprise and everything is an exciting new adventure.
This profile was written as part of College Composition I.
Published March 17, 2022
The fear that you get when a shoe is flying past your face is a fear like no other. It scares the BEEP out of an 11 year old. The teacher threatening to do it again by yelling “shoe fly!” The same fear rushing back and making you want to cry. You know if you do anything wrong, the shoe will be directed at you. The size 10.5 wide sneaker flying through the air will make any misbehaved child sit respectfully in their seat. Mr. Vonasek is the best shoe thrower.
Perfectionist is the one word that everyone uses to describe Loren Vonasek. He is always on a mission, always walking at a very fast pace. His short hair has a light grey tint to it and is always perfectly spiked up. I do not think I have ever seen him in anything other than a polo shirt and khakis. His fingers are always cracked from clay artwork; he claims it’s because he is allergic to kids. He usually wears a chunky shoe, similar to your average “dad” white New Balance sneaker. You will often find him with his middle finger up, flipping off the conversation for which he does not have an answer to. He might even curse by saying BEEP out loud.
Loren can make anyone laugh, whether it is new friends, old friends, or even the waiter at a restaurant. Being around Loren can brighten anyone’s mood. Everyone has a big smile on their face when around him, unless he is throwing shoes.
Mr. Vonasek was my art teacher throughout my elementary career. He was always the teacher that scared me the most. If the class was bad he would bring out three cups, a red, yellow, and blue one. These were used as a way to keep the class quiet; blue was good, yellow was ok, and red was bad. You NEVER wanted to get to red. Students knew to behave. Even though I was very fearful of Mr. Vonasek, art was still one of my favorite classes.
Loren and my mom are in a little friend group that they call “The Round Table. I am able to hangout around this group of people and get to know them. Loren always stuck out because he is considered the goofball of the group and is always enjoyable to be around. We have taken many mini trips together. We have done a few different escape rooms, which is one of Loren's favorite things to do. He loves the rush that you get when playing. He also likes the socialization of spending time with the group. I understand this feeling. Their friend group consists of a few elementary school teachers that always had the same lunch time. Their lunches were always fun and full of laughter, and it suddenly became a friend group. Loren is always the main cause of the laughter. He says that he loves the Round Table because they know how to have fun and when not to cross lines. Having awkward conversations is not one of the things that he enjoys. It is never awkward with The Round Table. They are always excited to talk to each other more and more and catch up on each other's lives. There is not silence when being around them.
I went with some of the members on a trip down to the cities and we ate at a restaurant called 3 Squares. The whole restaurant could hear the laughter that was booming from our table. The whole table agreed that it was not too obnoxious for the surroundings, but I am sure the other customers would disagree. The Round Table really enjoyed the waiter, who was very funny and joked around with the group. Having a nice waiter or waitress is one of the things that Mr. Vonasek looks forward to when dining out. He also has to enjoy the food, and 3 Squares is very delicious. Julie Jenson (a member of The Round Table) overheard our waiter talking to his parents, who were sitting at the table next to ours. They were chatting about meeting the waiter's girlfriend soon. Julie became intrigued and asked about the waiter. The whole table was shocked and laughed hysterically. We were all surprised that Loren did not give his spiel about prenuptials to the waiter. The best advice he gives is when he tells people to get Prenuptials.
If you are ever looking to find Loren, you will probably find him at school. My mom always jokes around with him about how he never leaves. He is very dedicated to his job, he loves doing it. He would consider himself a “workaholic” as he enjoys the focus of working hard. Mr. Vonasek told me he spends a lot of time working to make excellent lessons for his students. When asked if Mr. Vonasek would ever have a dog; he responded with “the dog would die” due to the lack of time he spends at home.
The kids love Loren. I asked a group of students if they enjoyed the classes they had with Mr. Vonasek, they all responded with a positive thumbs up. He is very helpful in the classroom and a great teacher to talk to. The conversations are always easy flowing. He makes sure to stop by every student's work station to chat and see if they need any help. The students like his support and invite him to watch sporting events, which always gives him a big smile.
Loren went to college at Bemidji State University in 1984. He originally wanted to go to school to become a veterinarian, but decided to drop out because it was “too hard.” He changed his major to art, industrial art, and elementary education. One of Vonasek’s professors really pushed for him to go into education because it was easier to find a job, so he took the advice and is happy he did. He started as a long term sub in 1986 in the Brainerd Lakes area. In 1988-1989, he was offered a position for elementary art at Rippleside Elementary School. He accepted the offer, but the original high school teacher decided that he wanted to stay in the elementary school for one more year. Loren was moved to teach art at the high school for the year instead. Then, the elementary art teacher whom Loren was supposed to replace suddenly passed away. Loren was then bumped back into the elementary school to teach art. He taught art to kindergarten through six- graders for 30 years until his art program unfortunately got cut at the elementary school. He moved back into the high school to teach art which has been an adjustment for Loren, but he is taking on the challenge.
Loren has never been afraid of a little challenge (besides vet school). He says yes to everything and everyone. In Elementary school, Loren struggled a lot. He did not get good grades and his parents were very worried about him. Loren said he was considered a failure until seventh grade. He thinks it might have been puberty that changed him, but all of a sudden he was an A student. If he was not getting an A in a class, he would freak out.
Loren has talented and artistic parents, which is where his special talent came from. They taught him at a young age to excel at the skills that you do, and he did. Loren was in many art programs in high school including painting, calligraphy, and sculpting with paper-mache of large forms. He was also involved in sports. He competed in track and field and he was a manager for the volleyball team. For a while he was the head coach for the volleyball team, still from time to time, you will see Loren as a line judge at the high school volleyball games.
Mr. Vonasek helped Kelly Blake, the music teacher at Aitkin High School, with the set designs of the musical the concert choir put on every year. Mrs. Blake would require all the students to help set paint and put the set together. My favorite part of set painting was all the jokes that Mr. Vonasek would make. They were so random, but yet so funny. He was always there running around with extra paint and brushes. I talked with Ava Carlson and she has some experience with laughing too hard at Loren’s jokes. She said, “When you're supposed to be serious, Loren will continue to crack jokes. The more you laugh, the funnier it gets. He has an infectious laughter.” Ava put it in perfect words, there is something about Loren’s laugh that just makes everyone laugh.
Having someone in your life like Loren Vonasek is something magical. Having that person be by your side, ready to make you laugh if you are in a bad mood. He is ready to support you in anything and everything. Loren is the irreplaceable person that you look forward to talking to and being around. My Mom gets so excited when she gets to hangout with “The Round Table” especially for what the topic of conversations will be. The questions or topics Loren will bring up are always a surprise and everything is an exciting new adventure.
This profile was written as part of College Composition I.