1. She continuously switches gears and al-
ternates between writing, taking photos
and collecting data. There is no typical
day for Marena Assarsson.
Assarsson works at Youthville, a nonprofit
faith-based agency, specializing in per-
manency, foster care, adoption, psychiat-
ric residential treatment and counseling.
Daily Assarsson uses her writing skills to
write and edit newsletters, press releases,
brochures, invites, the Youthville website
and Facebook.
Assarsson’s skills are not limited to writ-
ing. She takes and edits her own pho-
tos too. Assarsson has been working at
Youthville for two years now. She worked
as a marketing coordinator for one year
and is now the current communications
coordinator.
Yearly Assarsson works on Youthville’s
annual report. It is her greatest achieve-
ment. It contains data such as financial
information and statistics.
“It’s a lot of work and very time consum-
ing. When it publishes I’m proud of the
work I’ve put into it,”Assarsson says.
Megan Pratt, a co-worker of Assarsson
describes her. “Sometimes she’s crazy
and sometimes she tells it like it is. I
would say she is very easy to work and
“Everyone’s interesting.
Everyone has a
background.”with and makes work fun. She’s a hard
worker,”Pratt says.
Assarsson is a graduate of Wichita State
University. During her college years, As-
sarsson majored in journalism writing.
Journalism was not always Assarsson’s
dream. She aspired to become a nurse
until one of her writing teachers, im-
pressed by Assarsson’s writing, suggest-
ed she pursue writing instead.
“Writing is something I’m very passion-
ate about,” Assarsson says. Being a com-
munications major, Assarsson spent a lot
of her time in Elliott Hall, headquarters
for The Elliott School of Communication.
The Elliott School offers broadcast jour-
nalism, electronic media, marketing com-
munications and print journalism courses.
During her time in Elliott Hall, Assarsson
met Les Anderson. Anderson died unex-
pectedly in Nov. 2011. Assarsson remem-
bers Anderson as very friendly and per-
sonable.
“He was liked by many people,”she says.
Anderson was Assarsson’s favorite in-
structor because he was “knowledgeable
and was always available for constructive
criticism,”she says.
Anderson pushed Assarsson to become
a better writer. “He was hard. He chal-
lenged people. Maybe at the time it kind
of sucked, but it was definitely worth it
because I learned a lot”she says.
As a student, Assarsson worked on many
projects, including interviewing Santa
Claus—Assarsson’s favorite project.
“It was in my feature writing class with Les
Anderson. The man I interviewed even
dressed up for me when I came to inter-
view him and let me get my picture taken
on his lap,”Assarsson exclaims. .
Assarsson wrote as a staff writer for The
Sunflower for one year. The Sunflower is
the Wichita State student-run newspaper,
its headquarters are located in the base-
ment of Elliott Hall.
“There are so many different types of writ-
ing. My advice would be in the communi-
cations field you can wear a lot of differ-
ent hats because there’s writing for press
releases, ad copy, website, radio spots.
It’s important to always be aware of what
type of writing you’re doing and to put on
that different hat. It’s not all the same.“
During her time as a college student, As-
sarsson interned for GoWichita where she
met Lynn Deckinger. Assarsson and Deck-
inger still work together at Youthville.
“Her best quality is her attention to detail.
She’s a detail oriented person. She’s per-
sonable. People can relate to her easily.
As a communications person, building
those kinds of relationships are impor-
tant,”Deckinger says.
Assarsson graduated with her bachelor’s
degree from WSU in 2006 and obtained
Marena Assarsson
her master’s degree in 2007 from Notting-
ham Trent University. She began working
at the KU Medical Center as a writing/mar-
keting coordinator shortly afterwards.
Assarsson was laid off from the position
a year and a half later, but Assarsson re-
mains positive.
“Being laid off for eight months was a bit
of a setback for me. But I still have a long
ways to go in my career so I try to stay op-
timistic and look towards the future,” As-
sarsson says.
Soon after her setback, Assarsson won an
Emerald Award from the Kansas Associa-
tion of Health Care Communicators for a
story she wrote for the newsletter during
her time at KU Medical Center.
“It was a nice surprise and a boost of con-
fidence,” she says. Sometimes work life
can become difficult. Assarsson advises
to stay positive.
“Try to enjoy what you’re doing because
sometimes when you get into your daily
routine and you know all that goes on in
an office you can lose sight of that and I
think it’s good to come back to and re-
member why you’re doing this profes-
sion. Because for me it’s something I’m
very passionate about,”she says.
Assarsson’s favorite thing to write about
is people. Assarsson elaborates,“Everyone
has a story and I love interviewing people
to find out more about them. Everyone’s
interesting. Everyone has a background.”
Above: Assarsson posing for a photo with her husband Magnus and daughter Hilma.
Above: Assarsson posing with daughter Hilma
By: Amandine Ta
Writer. College Graduate. Dreamer. Mother. Pursuer. Wife. All Around Go-Getter.