First jobs lay foundation through advice, sweat, tears
It was the summer of Expo ‘74, and my friends had jobs at Spokane’s exciting World’s Fair. Meanwhile, I was stuck in Rochester Heights, a treeless park in the Hillyard area.
As a recreation leader, I was one of about 75 young people organizing park activities throughout Spokane. These parks department jobs were coveted, but it was my third summer doing it, and all was not well. I was reeling from my first broken heart. The children were physically and emotionally needy. Then one day my co-worker got sick and never again returned.
My boss, Johnna Boxley, found me weeping in the park’s equipment shed one afternoon. I have to quit, I told her, because everything is too overwhelming. I’ve forgotten her exact words, but Johnna’s message that day was clear: Don’t quit just because you’re having a bad day. This, too, will pass. Now get out of this shed and do your job.
I’ve always wanted to tell Johnna how her message has sustained me through some bad workdays in the adult world. This week, I finally did.
Johnna is general manager of the Spokane Convention Center and the Opera House. Monday, she gave me a tour of the convention center expansion. “It’s my baby,” she said.
We walked through 100,000 square feet of new exhibit hall space and admired the views of the Spokane River from the center’s promenade windows.
Then, we chatted our way into the past. Johnna is 58 now. Her hair is salted with gray, but she’s changed little physically since that summer long ago, when she was just 26. Johnna is the second oldest of 12 children; her father was an immigrant from the Philippines. The family had an Auburn, Wash., farm, and the children worked it.
At Auburn High School, her gymnastics coach, Mrs. Trimble, gave this advice when Johnna fell: “It’s not the end of the world. Get out there and do it again.”
In the 1970s, Johnna, who had a degree in parks and recreation administration from Eastern Washington University, was combining marriage, children and career in a then-man’s world. The skills she built in her parks department years emboldened her to take risks, and she’s changed professions three times.
She got a master’s degree in education in 1980 and taught parent education courses for the Community Colleges of Spokane while running an event planning business on the side. In 1990, she was hired as the CEO of a computer company and remained in Spokane rather than move to New York when the company was subsumed by a larger firm. She took a job in facilities management in 1992. Her then-boss, Mike Kobluk, mentored her in managing big buildings and big staffs with humility and grace.
Johnna works with a staff of 33 people and oversees a handful of contract service providers. She often puts in 14-hour days and saw “The Lion King” 11 times.
“Part of my joy is enjoying people enjoy the buildings,” she said.
Johnna is gearing up for the 30 to 50 conventions a year expected as the convention center grows. I asked her if she had any more work tips; it’s hard to let go of former mentors.
Her 2006 message: Hire people with passion because you can teach skills, but not passion. Love what you’re doing, and if you don’t, find a different job.
The summer parks program, begun in 1907, died in 2004, a victim of budget cuts. But there will be plenty of summer jobs this year, predicts Jeff Zahir, a Washington state labor economist. “We have some of the lowest unemployment rates of the century. Employers are going to be happy and anxious to hire some kids.”
Work ethics, forged in the home, solidify during summer jobs. Young people can make work mistakes, such as sobbing hysterically in front of a boss, and live to tell the tale, as I did today. Thanks again, Johnna.