Biography: Amy Jordan

Hey! I’m Amy, and I’m from the little town of Hibbing, way up in northern Minnesota.

Hibbing actually isn’t that small though – it’s the biggest city in Minnesota! Can you believe it?! (That’s just in land area though. Ha-ha. Gotcha!) Hibbing is so big because we have the largest open-pit iron ore mine in the world. Our other claims to fame are our high school – it’s on the national historical register and our auditorium is gorgeous – and Bob Dylan. He’s actually from here! (He doesn’t like anyone to know that though. Sigh.)

Anyway, Hibbing is still pretty small, so there’s not much to do. I enjoy hanging out with my friends in my free time. We go to the movies, have bonfires, go to the beach, have movie nights at my friend’s house, go skating and play hockey in the winter, visit the haunted cemetery, and, of course, have poker nights. Being seniors at Hibbing High School this year, we are all definitely looking forward to our last year.

I love having fun with my friends, but during the school year it gets to be a little harder with everything that’s going on. I’m really involved with my school. I am on the student council and I was recently elected secretary of my division’s board. I am also the president of Key Club, which is a youth service organization sponsored by the local Kiwanis Club. I’m also on math team and knowledge bowl. I love helping out at my church, too. I teach Sunday school and I’m on my church’s youth council. We plan fun activities for the youth in my congregation. I’m also on my synod’s Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO) board. That’s tons of fun! I’m very active in my Venture Crew also. Venturing is a co-educational program of the Boy Scouts of America for youth between the ages of 14 and 20. My venture crew does high-adventure activities such as whitewater rafting, winter camping, backpacking in the Rocky Mountains, canoeing in the Boundary Waters, and camping on a remote island in the Florida Keys. It’s all really awesome!

Well, as I like talking about things in no particular order, I am going back to where it all began. I was born here in my little town of 18,000, and I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve never moved anywhere else, and my family has lived in the same house since before I was born. My family consists of my parents and a younger brother. I get my freakish organizational skills from my parents, although looking at my room you’d never be able to tell that I’m an organizing freak! And I’m an awful procrastinator.

When I was younger, I became interested in China because it was something so different from the scope of my boring little life. It always represented adventure in my eyes, and I love adventure – doing something different and out of the ordinary. That is why I attended Concordia Language Village’s Chinese Program. The language villages offer a total-immersion program. That means that you not only learn the language but you live the culture while you are there. It was an amazing experience! Going to the Chinese Language Village helped increase my interest in China and made me want to work with China in my future career.  That's why I applied to go on this trade mission.