Where are they now? Schuster shaped by experiences in Peace Corps

Many people claim that their college years by far molded them into the adults they are today. For New Rockford Class of 1996 graduate Kim Schuster, though, several indelible experiences that transformed her are serving with the Peace Corps in the west African country of Mali, living under the same roof with her grandmother for 12 years, and taking a few major employment risks.

While Kim was still in elementary school, her class had the opportunity to listen to Lena Throlson, a graduate of the New Rockford Class of 1987, share her Peace Corps experiences while serving in Kenya, East Africa. Lena's talk sparked an immediate interest in the impressionable Kim. Later, after helping another New Rockford graduate, Joayne Larson (Class of 1993) pack for her Peace Corps commitment in Far East Russia, Kim realized that it was only a matter of time that she, too, would apply for the Peace Corps.

First, though, college was in store for Kim. She attended St. Cloud State University (Minnesota), and in May of 1999, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in mass communications, which placed an emphasis on public relations. Kim also earned a minor in communication disorders– American Sign Language emphasis. Kim then began completing the extensive and rigorous Peace Corps paperwork. Usually, the paperwork process takes a full year, but much to her surprise, Kim received notice in November that she was offered a natural resource management volunteer position in Mali.

Three months of intensive language, cultural, and technical training followed. She was taught about and then implemented during her time in Mali a variety of farming techniques, well improvements so sources of water would not dry up, HIV/AIDS awareness, nutritional food values, and so much more.

Kim relates, "My time in Mali was so memorable and by far the toughest job I have ever had and loved. Even though Mali is a third-world country, I couldn't get over the abundant generosity of spirit the people there demonstrated daily." The village in which Kim was placed had no running water or electricity. People slept in mud huts that had to be rebuilt after every rainy season because of the straw roofs. Each meal was the same: sorghum meal that was dipped in a slimy, green tree leaf sauce and eaten with one's hands.

After her 18-month long work with the Peace Corps, Kim found that returning to the States proved quite a bit more difficult than her arrival in Mali. She admits, "My transition to the United States was much more shocking." She remembers her craving for Doritos was so strong that she needed to purchase a bag of the nacho snack at a gas station near the airport. When she saw the display of options and noticed that there were now five choices for Doritos, she was so overwhelmed that she burst into tears. "I had become accustomed to bartering for a pile of tomatoes in Mali based upon which pile looked the least rotten. I had forgotten the amount of excess and shiny packaging we have here in our country," Kim states. It took a couple of months for Kim to complete her grocery shopping in one trip without becoming extremely anxious.

Kim did not have to travel thousands of miles away, though, to develop her generous heart. Affectionately known as "Mikie," Almyra Greb, Kim's grandmother on her mother's side, had moved in with the Schuster family when Kim was in first grade. In a way, Mikie was a third parent to Kim and her siblings. Kim fondly remembers borrowing jewelry from her grandma and wearing dresses she had sewn for her.

Her close relationship with her grandmother helped to instill a strong appreciation for older people, so much so that Kim volunteered in a St. Cloud nursing home during her undergraduate college years. From 2011 through 2016, she also coordinated a community outreach program for seniors by providing inspirational talks and meditation sessions twice a month at a HUD housing development in Edina, Minn.

Additionally, Kim has been a "Visiting Angel" since 2018. The Visiting Angel program ensures that seniors who still live at home but don't have family to care for them are looked after on a regular basis. Because of Grandma Mikie's influence, Kim fully understands the wisdom we all can gain from the older generation. She doesn't hesitate to reciprocate the care they gave to her or her parents' age groups.  

Taking online courses from 2015 to 2017, Kim was able to earn her Master of Science degree in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis ion Strategic Leadership through Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. Kim has held quite a wide variety of job titles in Minnesota, from Chief Operations and Compliance Officer to Store Manager. Her current decision to start Moving Beyond, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit yoga and meditation studio, however, has been not only her most risky venture, but her life's most significant accomplishment.

Due to a collapsed lung in 2004 and two different car accidents in 2010 that left her with lasting injuries, Kim had been practicing yoga and meditation for years to aid her overall health. She wanted to make these beneficial methods available to others. As founder and instructor at the Minneapolis-based Moving Beyond Yoga and Meditation studio, Kim acknowledges that the first year was very difficult. "We had a zero-client base to start with and were competing with 22 other studios within a 5-mile radius of our location. Our business is now growing as more people learn that all of our classes are 100% donation-based, which allows students to pay what works with their budgets," she says. The end of September of 2019 marked the studio's one-year anniversary.

Kim is the second of four children born to Jim and Fern Schuster. Kim's siblings Kristy, Keri, and Dale graduated from New Rockford in 1994, 1998, and 2000 respectively. Kristy is a math teacher in Aurora, Colo. She is married and has two sons. Keri is also an educator, as she teaches kindergarten at Dakota Prairie Elementary School. Her husband recently retired after 20 years in the Air Force as a jet mechanic. They have three teenagers. Dale, his wife, and two daughters live in West Fargo where he is a field technician for Midco.

Kim's son Isaiah, a high school senior who loves to play football, is checking out area colleges to pursue a business degree. Living in the Twin Cities, coupled with portions of time spent with Jim and Fern and other family members in North Dakota, has allowed Isaiah to understand life outside the big city; in fact, he chose to write one of his college essays about his small-town experiences.

Growing up with an intense desire to travel and see the world, precocious Kim Schuster thought a career as a truck driver would be a great choice as a way to at least tour the United States. To supplement her income, she pondered life on the weekends as a stand-up comedian. Though neither of these childhood imaginings came to fruition, Kim discovered so much more in life due to what the Peace Corps, her grandmother, and her entrepreneurship have offered her. She can confidently use "adaptable," "open-hearted," and "risk taker" to describe herself.