Welcome to the Dragon Community: Danelle Wolnik

Danelle Wolnik is MSU Moorhead's new assistant veterans resource outreach director. Danelle, retired Master Sergeant, E8, served many roles in her 24 years in the North Dakota Army National Guard with most of her career in Human Resources. While in the NDARNG, she deployed to Kuwait/Iraq and Kosovo, also having trained in Germany, Romania, and Alaska along with several U.S. states. Outside of her military career, she is married with three children, ages 8, 11 and 12.

Q: What drew you to MSUM? 
A: Someone I served with sent me the job description and it sounded right up my alley. I get my energy from helping people. The outreach, support, and networking needed to make this role successful felt like the right fit.

Q: What does Military-Connected mean to you? 
A: It's a connection and understanding of past experiences. Whether you served, your parents, grandparents, or siblings served, being military-connected gives you those ties to be able to relate.

Q: What is something that people may not know about you?
A: I wanted to be a U.S. Marshal. I was given the opportunity to do so, but due to funding, it didn't happen. Then, five years later, I received a letter asking if I was still interested, but life had taken me in a different direction.

Q: How do you like to wind down after a long day?
A: Reading. If I'm sitting down, I'll physically read a book. When I'm walking and/or running, I'll listen to a book.

Q: What goals do you have for 2025? 
A: To find the new me! After retiring, I need to find my new normal. Some of the bigger hurdles have been learning to unwind after having an extremely demanding position in the military, and the lingo in higher education. In the military, we very much have our own language and how we speak to people is very different than the average civilian job. So, in 2025, I will be taking a breather as I enter this next chapter of my life and career.

Q: What would you name your pet dragon?
A: I'm going to borrow the name from 'Friends' and name my dragon, "Princess Consuela Banana Hammock". She would be quite fiery, just like me.

Welcome to the Dragon Community, Danelle!