Today’s Senior Spotlight is long-time Sartellion, Wesley Johnson!

He started his academic career at Oak Ridge Preschool for half a year! As he got older, his family’s nanny ventured off on her life journey, which meant for Wesley that he needed to switch schools. So he attended Montessori for another year and a half.  But then, he made the ultimate comeback of the 2012 school year and was able to rejoin his Sartell class for kindergarten and has been here ever since.

Wesley has had a plethora of wonderful teachers over the years, and when asked he couldn’t just choose one. He said his top elementary teacher was Mrs. Foy because she went to lots of NFL Super Bowl games and he thought she was so rad for that. A middle school teacher that he will always remember is Mrs. Rude because of her stellar classroom environment. A high school teacher who will forever hold a special place in his heart is Mr.Kripner because of his comedic commentary. Wesley was raving about his times in Team Games with Nathen Shultz because he had the title of GOAT of the Quarter because of his superior soccer skills, dominating everyone else in the class. His favorite part of the quarter was that he got to show up and play different sports “especially the volleyball unit”.

On the topic of sports Wesley has a deeply rooted tie with baseball travelling back many, many years. He started playing as a little kid in a local club on the weeknights. Quickly it grew into an obsession and by the time he reached his sophomore year he was already pitching for the Sartell-St. Stephen Baseball Team.

More of his skills expanded last year as Wesley was able to start hitting during the Varsity games.  When asked what his favorite memory was from playing on the High School Baseball team, he deliberately answered, “Um, I would say getting to state was a big goal over the years, it wasn’t easy, but we accomplished it. And I think all the playoff games that lead up to the state ones were dramatic and filled with heroic performances.”

In his spare time, he enjoys watching sports from high school to the Big Leagues. The craziest high school game he ever witnessed was the 2022 Sartell Varsity Football playoff game vs. the Sauk-Rapids Storm Football team.  The Sartell Sabres were down in the last quarter and then made the comeback of the decade with a 2-point conversion by Cole Hentges to Domic Larsen which carried over to a Sabre Victory by 1 point.

Professional sports are always a great source of entertainment, like going to Minnesota Twins games and traveling across the country to the US Tennis Open tournament in New York with his parents. Wesley had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Serena Williams’s last career win. Watching sports isn’t enough for him though in the summer, Wesley enjoys playing in the Sartell Muskies Ameture Baseball League with his friend Brett Schlangen. On the field, Wesley is called by the exceptional nickname “Snipes”.  The coined name originates from Mr.Oistad calling on Wesley so much in his 10th grade AP World History class, that he just answered so quickly and precisely that he then earned the name.

One of Wesley’s hobbies is coming up with food reviews. Because of his many traveling excursions, he’s been exposed to varying cuisines, which has allowed him to cultivate a wide taste pallet. Curios to see what restaurant took #1 in his heart, I asked Wesley to elaborate and he said that the best restaurant he has ever been to is for sure Waffle House and that “It is a shame that they only have it in the South because they would have all my money.”

Finally, Wesley’s future plans are to continue his education and athletic career at Winona State University. He was offered to play D2 baseball for the Winona Warriors Baseball Team this fall and is going to study data science at their College of Science and Engineering.