Abby HolstromWorks With Island Students

Monitoring students from kindergarten through seventh grade during lunch recess is one of Abby Holstrom's duties at the Mackinac Island Public School. With weather cooperating Tuesday, November 13, students enjoy playground equipment and a break from classroom assignments.

Abby Holstrom, who is spending her second winter on the Island, divides her time between two seasonal jobs. When school is in session, she is the paraprofessional aide to student Olivia Chambers at Mackinac Island Public School. During the tourist season, she is a hostess at the Pink Pony Bar and Grill.

The Spring Lake native moved the to Island in the summer of 2006. Before that, she worked in an after-school daycare program for 11 years.

In October, she was chosen employee of the month, and then she was named employee of the year at the restaurant. Next year, she will be a server at the Pink Pony. The positions fit her well, she said, since she enjoys meeting new people.

With an associate's degree in childhood development from Muskegon Community College, Ms. Holstrom's work at the school centers around helping Miss Chambers, monitoring students during the lunch recess, and helping in the office when needed.

She is enjoying her new job at the school, she said.

"Where else can you crosscounty ski to school?" she asks. "Where else would you be able to do that going to work?"

This fall, Miss Chambers broke her leg and has been homebound, so along with the school's special education teacher Kathleen Peterson and speech therapist Mary Christiansen, Ms. Holstrom rotates her time during the day to work with her.

Born with a neuro-muscular disorder, Miss Chambers, now age 10, is unable to talk and has limited movement of her hands and arms. When working with her, Ms. Holstrom focuses on activities, including craft projects, that will help improve her communication skills. She also works to stimulate her physical movement and help her with coordination skills. Ms. Holstrom develops projects that encourage Miss Chambers to reach for items. The process, she said, is designed to help her with hand and arm mobility.

During the lunch time recess, students head out to the playground area on the north side of the school, and Ms. Holstrom is out there with them, watching and talking with students.

"It's great to be able to be at the school and playground overlooking the water and the bridge," she said.

About every two months, she travels downstate to visit her younger sister and parents.

"My biggest inspiration is my mom, who has been teaching for so long," she said, "and loves it." Her mother is a speech therapist.

Beginning her second winter on the Island, Ms. Holstrom said she appreciates the quietness of the winter. In the evening, she takes walks and gets together with friends for dinner parties.

"I do love it up here," she said. "Everybody kind of knows everyone. It's a little community that is very close."