Vitals Katherine Ann McKoon Born: February 23, 1982 City: Chicago, Illinois Hometown: Nauvoo, Illinois
Shares middle name with mom and three cousins - no E!!
Spent June ’09 in Costa Rica learning Spanish with a very strict 4-year-old teacher
Has various skills in hay baling, horse riding, saxophone & piano playing, jazz vocalizing, and gracefully hopping off of two wheeled apparatuses
Is known as “HOBY Mama” to about 600 high school students
Coincidentally since dating Tom, Katie has been steadily increasing her football and hockey knowledge.
Other interests for Katie include jazz music, education, helping her kiddos, watching movies with Tommy, organizing things, and spending time with her family and friends.
Biographical Information Katie was born on a cold winter’s day in February to Paul and Rosie McKoon. Katie grew up in Nauvoo, Illinois, with her favorite little brother Cale. Nauvoo is right where Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri meet on the Mississippi River. Katie’s mom is a 4th grade teacher at Nauvoo-Colusa Elementary. Katie’s dad works at Building Materials as well as on the family farm. Katie’s educational career includes the following prestigious institutions: Hamilton Elementary School, Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Grade School, Nauvoo-Colusa Jr.-Sr. High School, Valparaiso University, and the University of Connecticut.
At Valpo, Katie majored in Public Relations and minored in Business. As a student, she was involved in Residential Life, Alumni Relations, and the Admission Office. Katie particularly enjoyed her time in Jazz Band playing the Bari Sax and singing jazz at the “local family restaurant.” Katie had so much fun during her undergrad years that she stayed four years longer as Valpo’s Assistant Director of Admission, where she traveled around the country promoting Valpo, gave out a lot of scholarship money, and managed the student ambassador program.
2009 marked Katie’s tenth anniversary volunteering with Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership – an international non-profit youth leadership organization. Katie has chaired three state leadership seminars and has facilitated at seven world leadership congresses. She’s probably most famous for her ability to orchestrate seven minute restroom breaks for six hundred people. Be jealous.
In 2008, Katie decided to leave Valpo and pursue her Master’s in School Counseling at the University of Connecticut. Katie graduated from UCONN May 2010. She served as a Research Assistant to the School Counseling faculty, focusing on incorporating college counseling into the school counseling curriculum as well as increasing college-going rates for traditionally underrepresented populations. Katie interned at East Hartford and Synergy Alternative High Schools and loved working with and learning from her kiddos. This August, Katie will be the Founding School College Counselor at the University of Illinois @ Chicago College Prep. UICCP is a new charter school in the UIC Medical Village Area. Most of the students are low-income and/or a minority. The school's goal is 100% college enrollment.
