Always learning with communication and empathy
- 12 hours ago
- 14 min read
Leading with empathy at work and in the community
Meet Renee Strom
I'm Renee Strom. I teach interpersonal communication, mass communication and popular culture, and public speaking at Bay College. My full title is Doctor Renee Strom, but I always tell my students you can call me Dr. Strom or Renee. I don't care which one.
I grew up in Stanton, Nebraska. Stanton is a small town, so rural life is familiar to me.
I knew I wanted to teach in high school, but my dream was always to be a college professor. I just wanted to play school when I was little. I have always loved reading, and I've loved learning. My kids always tease me that I was a teacher's pet in high school, and I suppose I was, because I did the readings. I wanted to talk about things. As a teacher, I appreciate those students.
I got my undergraduate degree in secondary education, teaching English and communication. I taught in high school for a few years. That's when I met my husband, Thad, in Nebraska. He was attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for his master’s in counseling psychology.
We were married in 2001 and moved to East Lansing, where I went to Michigan State full-time to get my Master's and Doctorate in communication in 2006. I'm so happy I did because I love teaching communication. My husband got his doctorate in counseling psychology from MSU the same year.
After graduation, we moved to Hawaii with our four-month-old baby, Henry. For two years, I taught at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Thad worked at the Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Then we moved to Minnesota in 2008, where I taught a variety of communication classes at Saint Cloud State University, and Thad was hired by the Minneapolis VA as a Psychologist. Our daughter Emma was born in 2009, and our family was complete.
I have always been a student or a teacher. There's nothing that brings me more satisfaction than: How can I reach those students? How can I get them to understand and make the connections? It's so satisfying.
Thad is from Gladstone, so he is familiar with the U.P. We would come up and visit - it's just so incredibly beautiful. Nebraska is beautiful in its own way, but it does not have the topography that the Upper Peninsula has. I was really struck by how pretty it was, and we always enjoyed visiting when we came.
We never thought we'd both be able to both find jobs at the same time in the Upper Peninsula. We were fortunate to be able to do that, and it's been a great fit. We've been here for eight years this summer. It's been awesome.
Thad works at the Oscar G. Johnson VA, and I teach at Bay College. I am the only full-time communication instructor at Bay College. I teach on both campuses in Escanaba and Iron Mountain.
Working at Bay College
I teach three classes at Bay, and that's pretty common. You're not going to see a community college with 5 or 6 communication classes, especially with one full-time faculty member. I teach interpersonal communication, mass communication and popular culture, and public speaking.
Interpersonal communication is an easy sell for students who want to improve their communication skills with their family, friends, and significant other relationships. Mass communication and popular culture is interesting. I had never taught that before coming to Bay, so when I came, I had to build that class from the ground up.
I am very proud of that class because it's always changing. As we know, the media is always changing, and what's happening with the media. We talk about things like the economics of the media and mergers, and what does that mean for us as receivers of communication, and is that shaping the messages? Is it getting narrower because fewer people own more and more of the media we consume?
I taught an intro to communication class at Saint Cloud State for ten years, and it covered a little bit of everything: interpersonal, small-group, and public speaking. So, just one part of that was public speaking. I had never taught a standalone public speaking class before coming to Bay. I never thought I wanted to, but then I started teaching it, and I love it. I love it because that's a challenging class for students to take, because it's scary due to the common fear of public speaking people have.
I’ll see a lot of students who take it, not because it's required, but because they want to challenge themselves. To see the growth over the semester is amazing. It is something that, again, you have to just be able to do in situations where you might not be the most comfortable, but you have to rely on: “Do I have any experience in this?” And now those students have that experience.
I teach some classes that are solely online, which is nice for students who can't make it to campus. They have kids, they have jobs. They want to get that education but can't make the time in the classroom work with their day. I also teach classes with a face-to-face component. They're fulfilling in different ways. With online classes, it's how do I get to know my students online when they can’t see my facial expressions and gestures, or how passionate I am about communication? How do they feel that? And how do I get them excited about it?
I first learned about Bay College when I met my husband because that is where he got his associate’s degree. I’m very proud to say Thad was the 2026 Bay College Distinguished Alumni. It was cool, though, because Thad is very smart. But in high school, he talks about how he did not apply himself. He didn't really take it very seriously. Nothing really caught his attention, and he sort of moved through the hoops. He really learned how to be a successful student while attending Bay.
There was a position at the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center for him first when we were looking to move. I looked at Bay, and I really liked everything I was hearing and reading about it.
What's really wonderful about Bay is the size allows for wraparound services like TRIO, which is for first-generation college students who didn't have all the steps to get into college at home. The school also provides resources such as a food pantry, free counseling, free tutoring, and a career closet. They have a health clinic over at the Escanaba campus.
Every school wants to say they are there for students, but I'm so happy to say that Bay really does back that up. That is an advantage of a smaller school.
It's interesting, when I taught at Saint Cloud State, I taught future teachers who were going to teach high school English and communication. When I left that job and was coming to Bay, I didn’t know what the teaching experience was going to be like. There is a wide range of students at Bay. Some have always done well in school and come here to complete their general education before transferring to a four-year university. Others come to Bay because they want to earn a certificate or terminal degree that prepares them to enter the workforce and build a career. Some are returning to school after being away for a while through the Michigan Reconnect program. Sometimes we also see students who go straight to a large four-year university after high school, only to realize it's not the right fit for them at that point in their lives. They come back to Bay, get the footing they need, and then move on. I'm glad that Bay can be that place for students.
The challenge I try to meet is addressing all the different student needs. I don't want a high-achieving student to be bored, and I don't want a student who's struggling to feel like they're being left behind. It's important to me that every student feels valued and feels like they're getting what they need from my classes.
I have to remember that my students are all sitting in the same classroom, but their paths to get there have been different. I can't make assumptions. I'm always learning from my students just as much as they might be learning from me. It's really important to me to create a culture of respect and safety in my classroom where people feel comfortable sharing. The reason I say safety is that I'm not going to let people make fun of someone else because of their views. We all have to show respect, because sometimes people are going to talk about things differently than we do. How do we have respect for that? That's an important part of learning together.
Something interesting about Bay is that citizens of Delta and Dickinson counties who are age 60 and older can take classes tuition-free. They can choose to earn college credit or simply audit a class for personal enrichment. I had an older student who audited my class because he just wanted to learn. He didn't have to do the assignments. He just enjoyed sitting in class and learning.
We also have dual-enrolled high school students who can earn college credit for free through the State of Michigan. I don't teach in the high schools myself, but I have colleagues who do. I have a lot of dual-enrolled students, especially in my online sections, because that format works well with their schedules.
I'm glad Bay College can be what it is for anybody. It's not just for a certain kind of student. It's for any student who wants to get on the path of education to better themselves.
Bay College has two campuses. There is a larger campus in Escanaba and a smaller campus in Iron Mountain. Escanaba used to be called the main campus because it was the original campus. Iron Mountain used to be called West Campus. Our President, Dr.
Hughes, really made the point and the commitment to say, it's not Main and West; it's the Escanaba campus and the Iron Mountain campus. And I agree with that, because names and words matter, right? Through this commitment, there has been seamless communication between the two campuses, which, of course, I'm passionate about communication. Bay does a really good job of making sure students have access to resources across all campuses. It's been a real positive, and the Iron Mountain campus is amazing for this community.
It's funny, I live in Iron Mountain, but I was initially hired to teach at the Escanaba campus. I get to teach on both campuses, which I really like, because I like working with colleagues and students in both places.
Living in the Dickinson Area
When Thad and I met, I wasn't very familiar with Michigan. We always went to Gladstone to visit family, but I had never really spent time in Iron Mountain. When I came up for my interview at Bay, I remember driving through Iron Mountain for the first time and thinking how beautiful it was. Another big advantage was the affordable housing. We were able to find a house that we love and that we never would have been able to afford where we lived in Minnesota.
All the pieces just fell in place, and it was just the right move, hands down, no question.
First of all, it is always hard when you move, and you're not from a place. Sometimes it can be hard to make inroads in small towns. It certainly helped that we have Thad's family in Gladstone.
I am a joiner. My husband is a little more of an introvert, and I'm a little bit more of an extrovert. Joining a church was really important to us. We had some different experiences with that, but we have found a church, Calvary Lutheran, we really feel a part of, and it feels like family to us. I started a book club, and that's been great. It was sort of prompted by women I think are cool, who I don't get to see very often for whatever reason, and who like to read. It has been a really cool connection piece and also a growth opportunity, as we don't talk about the book the whole time, we also talk about our lives and also how we see that in the books. About a year ago, I was invited to join a PEO Chapter AN. I have met a lot of incredible women who are all committed to helping women advance their education through that group.
Where we lived in Minnesota, my kids would have gone to a very, very large high school with thousands of students. Kingsford High School has been great for our family. Henry and Emma both have around 120 students in their class, so it's a nice size. They've had experiences they probably wouldn't have had in a much larger school. Like anywhere, there are pluses and minuses, but I'm really grateful for the experiences they've been able to have growing up and going to school in a smaller community.
Emma, 17, is a senior at KHS, and Henry just turned 20. He just graduated from Bay and is going on to Northern Michigan University in multimedia production.
I love walking with my friend Joey at Fumee. It's such a beautiful place. My kids and I take drives all the time around Lake Antoine and Upper Pine Creek Road. I have woods behind my house that I go and explore with my dog. There are so many beautiful places to go and just be outside. We are so lucky. It is literally every day I think I'm so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place. I really feel that getting away from technology and getting outside is so important for overall health. I'm not a biker, but I'm so impressed with the bike paths and all that the Dickinson Trail network has built and provides to this community.
For the last couple of years, I've walked with Bay College in the 4th of July parade. That's such a big and fun parade. This year, my husband and daughter Emma are going to walk in the parade for the VA.
Senior Crafting Connections
My daughter wanted to start a nonprofit. Emma is a real go-getter and has big dreams. I think she wanted to challenge herself. She knew she liked the idea of a nonprofit, but wasn’t sure what it was going to be. She absolutely loves to craft. She doesn't have a lot of free time, so I told her, I think you need to find something that involves crafting because that is your happy place, and it can serve multiple purposes.
My parents were visiting, and as they've gotten older, we've had a lot of conversations about aging. Through those discussions, and through talking with other older adults, I realized that many senior citizens sometimes feel invisible. Naturally, as someone who teaches communication, we talked about that a lot. Out of those conversations, Senior Crafting Connections was born.
We wanted to create something that would benefit everyone involved. The crafting gives people something to do together, but it's really the intergenerational interaction that's at the heart of it. Working side by side helps break down some of the hesitancy that teenagers might feel about talking with older adults. At the same time, the high school students who volunteer have opportunities to develop their leadership skills. We have a student-led board, so they take on different roles, help lead the organization, and earn volunteer hours along the way.
It's really been a win-win all the way around. What started with my daughter saying, "I'm going to do this," has grown into a beautiful addition to our community. We visit assisted living centers and nursing homes throughout the area to craft with residents, and we also host community events that anyone can attend. We've partnered with the VA on Cards of Hope for Veterans, creating supportive messages during Suicide Awareness Month in September. We provide all of the crafts free of charge because we know facilities sometimes face budget cuts, lose an activity director, or experience staff changes. That way, no matter what's happening, we can still bring meaningful activities and connection to the residents.
There is so much laughter, and you'll hear people say, "Oh my gosh, I used to love doing this," and someone else will say, "I love that too." They realize, "Wow, we have so much more in common than we have differences."
We are partnering with the Dickinson County Library on a few events this summer. The first is called Threads of Wisdom. It is a visual display showing some of those connections the students have made with the seniors during our SCC events. We want people to look at that and say, “You know what? I should ask my grandma about this.” Our student volunteers have also provided support at three crafting events the library held at nursing homes and assisted living centers in our area. This partnership has been wonderful.
The founding officers of Senior Crafting Connections actually came out of our book club. Most of the women in the book club have kids in middle school or high school. Our church is a smaller church, and I knew I wanted Emma to have a youth group experience. So we started something that was similar to a youth group. The older students mentor the younger ones, and they have a space where they can talk about anything. It's a place to reflect on God's hand in their lives while also building meaningful relationships with one another.
Our founding board members are Emma Strom – President, Abby Floriano - Vice President, Clark Robb -Treasurer, and Alexis and Jenna Robb - Co-Secretaries. Mara Tripp and Chase Jungles are board members at large. I am the executive director of the group. They make decisions and have fun together. We have regular volunteers like Kenedi Burrell, Elsa Lamirand, Jana Cook, Brady Cole, Oscar Castro, Geneva Hearn, and Jessa and Landri Rossler. There are probably about 15 kids from different schools in the area we can rely on.
Emma designed our shirts, and we wear them to all of our events. It's given her another creative outlet, and I've seen the leadership grow across all of our board members. It's become something that will continue even after Emma goes off to college. I'll be an empty nester, and this is a great way to fill my time while continuing to give back to our community. I want to keep working with the younger kids and connecting with the incredible senior citizens in our area. It has been incredibly fulfilling in more ways than I ever thought possible.
Empathy is a huge theme in my life. It's what I try to model in my teaching, and it's what we try to instill through Senior Crafting Connections. I feel like we need more of it in the world. How do we step outside of our own perspective and think, "Wow, look at all of the life experiences people have had. What can I learn from that?" That's really what our display at the library this summer is all about.
Another great example I want to mention is our partnership with the Iron Mountain VA. We've partnered with them through Bay College and now through Senior Crafting Connections on Cards of Hope events with Mary Campbell and Sharon Anastas, who lead the suicide prevention and awareness efforts at the VA. They've been wonderful to work with, and it was a natural connection through Thad's role there.
Through that partnership, we were able to spend time in the Community Living Center at the VA. The residents there were predominantly men, which was different from our other crafting events, which are usually attended by women. It was such a great experience for the students. Some of them had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a 100-year-old World War II prisoner of war. You can read about those experiences in books, but to actually sit down and have a conversation with someone who lived through that time is incredible.
Peaceful Community
Community, for sure, comes to mind. Sometimes you do have to build it, right? If you're not from here and want to make those inroads, you have to be willing to do that. People are very generous if you show you are interested, and sometimes it's just reaching out and saying yes to opportunities. So I would say community, and what also came to mind was peaceful.
Not that there's always peace everywhere in Dickinson County, but nature really brings me peace. Peaceful community, I guess, is what my takeaway is when I reflect back on this time.
About Bay College
Bay College is a community college with two campuses in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: Escanaba and Iron Mountain. At the foundation of Bay College's strategic vision is a deep commitment to empowering individuals, expanding opportunity, and delivering high-quality education for all. This foundation is crucial as it aligns with the evolving demographics of our community, the needs of our students, and employer demands for a workforce reflective of the broader society. Learn more
About Senior Crafting Connections
Senior Crafting Connections is dedicated to enriching the lives of seniors by providing craft events that promote intergenerational interaction and connection.
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