Woodbury High School Has New Activities Director

Jason Gonnion—the new activities director at —was a Division I football player at the University of Wisconsin.

He also was an actor in the spring play at his high school in southern Wisconsin.

“I was a dreadful singer,” he said.

Gonnion, currently a dean of students at Forest Lake High School, said he’s excited to come to Woodbury and looks forward to building on a “strong tradition of excellence.”

The school’s former activities director, Jason Schultz, recently at Cottage Grove Middle School.

Gonnion has been involved in fine arts at Forest Lake, was the head coach of the Stillwater Area High School golf team and served as a volunteer football coach at Stillwater. In addition, he headed up a Hmong student group at Forest Lake and was the co-head coach of the Nordic ski team at Stillwater.

Those experiences, he said, give him an insight into how important activities can be for students.

“That can help form the culture of a school,” Gonnion said.

Gonnon said there are still some contractual issues to work out before he comes to Woodbury full time. “Right now, I’m in two places,” he said.

When he got first got his administrative license, becoming an activities director was one of his goals. But he actually started out as a sports management major in college.

“Because I didn’t start out in education, it gives me a different perspective to this position,” said Gonnion, also a former DFL candidate for the state House.

Coming to a large metro area school will be a challenge, he said, and he hopes to continue Woodbury’s proud history of academics, athletics and fine arts.

“The idea to build on that, for me, is extremely exciting,” he said.