BOard Members
Laura Johnson
I am the director of Imagination City Children's Museum. I have lived in Grand Island since I was four years old. I attended Newell Elementary, Walnut Middle School, and Grand Island Senior High.
Following my graduation from GISH, I attended Hastings College just down the highway so that I could continue working in Grand Island and could continue to spend time with friends and family here. I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education, an Endorsement in English as a Second Language, and was just shy of a Spanish Minor. I continued my education after accepting my first position at Starr Elementary School and received my Masters in Curriculum and Instruction a few years into my teaching career. I now work at Westridge Middle School as their first and only Newcomer teacher! I teach students with limited English following their immigration to the United States. I love my job!
A close friend and colleague and I created Imagination City Children's Museum back in 2019. We have poured our hearts and souls into making the dream of a children's museum in our community a reality. My friend, Shawna, still serves on the board, but no longer helps me to direct the museum. Now, myself, and another board member, Katrina Wiles, pour our hearts and souls into what we call our little gem.
I am a proud mama of three boys. I have taught for Grand Island Public Schools for 19 years. I've taught all grades K-8 as an English Language teacher, and I have also taught 3rd and 4th grades. The three schools I've taught at are Starr and Seedling Mile Elementaries, and I am currently teaching at Westridge Middle School.
I am proud of Imagination City and love giving back to the community I was raised in and now serve in the public school system. I love my own children, of course, I love teaching children, and I love Imagination City because we created it for ALL of the children in Grand Island. As a mom of three and a teacher, I know the benefits that a children's museum can provide to the families in our community (as well as its surrounding communities)!
Shawna Senff grew up in Clay Center, Nebraska. She graduated from Hastings College with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and an Endorsement in English as a Second Language. Her teaching career started in Bellevue, Nebraska and 6 years ago she moved to Doniphan, Nebraska. She began teaching at Howard Elementary and currently is teaching EL at Starr Elementary. Shawna obtained her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Wayne State. She is married to Jed Senff, and is blessed with one son Maddox, who is 3 years old. Maddox loves to be outdoors and explore. Shawna has taught 3rd grade (for 2 years), 1st grade (for 6 years), Kindergarten (for 2 years) and English Learners (for 3 years). Shawna has taken many courses on early childhood development and is very passionate about the imperative benefits of play in the social, emotional, and cognitive development of a child’s brain. She is so excited to bring a children’s museum to Grand Island and provide families from all over the area with such a wonderful opportunity.
Katrina Wiles
I am an employee and Board Member at Imagination City Children’s Museum. I am a Grand Island native. I attended Howard Elementary for Kindergarten through some of 3rd grade before transferring to Dodge Elementary. I also attended Barr Middle School and Grand Island Senior High.
For the majority of my life, you would find me either at the ball field playing softball for the ABCDD league or travel ball for Scorpions and one year of Flames of Nebraska. If I wasn’t at the ball field, I would sometimes be on the football field marching in a band of 150+ other students or at basketball games in the stands playing in the pep band. I started working shortly after turning 16 years old at K-Mart and have worked in some sort of retail since. After graduating high school, I attended Peru State College, where I played college softball for 1 year before deciding my career as a player was over. After two years, I dropped out and moved back home. After I moved back, I started working at Case New Holland for a few years. In that time frame, I welcomed my first child in 2013, a beautiful little girl who is not so little anymore (No, seriously, she’s taller than me already at the age of 12 years old). It was her and I against the world until 2015 when I met my now husband. My husband and I got married in 2020 during the pandemic and welcomed another child into our crazy life in 2021, a handsome boy. In 2025, we finally bought our first family home and are thrilled to see where life takes us in the coming years.
In August of 2021 started my part-time job with Imagination City Children’s Museum which, when I started, was just helping me pay for a wedding (we postponed our big celebration to 2021 but still married with family as witnesses in 2020). ICCM has become more than a job to me. It has lit a fire in me and created a passion I never thought I would have. If you had asked me in high school if I would be working for a non-profit creating events, fundraisers, and meeting new family friends, I would have laughed.
I can’t thank Laura and Shawna enough for giving me this opportunity to be a part of something amazing and needed in Grand Island. Without them, I wouldn’t be one of the faces you see weekly at the museum. My kids wouldn’t be thriving like they are now, thanks to the social aspect that Imagination City Children’s Museum provides.
Diane Whelan My name is Diane Whelan, and I am a Nebraska transfer. I was born in a small community in Kansas known for its strong Swedish heritage and close family values. I moved to Nebraska in the 4th grade, first landing in North Platte and then moving to Grand Island, where I attended Barr Middle School. I graduated from Grand Island Senior High in 1991, making me the grandma of Imagination City Children's Museum's board. I attended the University of Nebraska in Kearney until my aspirations of becoming a teacher were shifted to raising a family.
My high school sweetheart and I welcomed our first child and only daughter in 1992 and then our only son in 1995. My husband of 32 years and I worked hard, struggled, and somehow managed to raise 2 very hard-working and kind-hearted kids. Today, we are blessed to be grandparents to two equally wonderful grandchildren, with the hope of more to come someday.
I've been employed by two businesses in Grand Island since I was in high school. I worked 24 years for Burger King as an hourly employee, then worked my way up to a general manager until I resigned to work the last almost 13 years as an optician at Precision Vision.
I asked to be a part of the board with ICCM in 2024 because I believe strongly in its mission. Parents, grandparents, daycares, foster families, and any adult with a child in their life need this environment. Grand Island has a huge need for safe indoor spaces for families to interact and for children to shine. A place for the entire family to unplug from their devices and play. Children are watching our every move, so what better place than to let them imagine what it's like to be us in their very own mini GI community. Being a part of something this important has made me realize what we lacked as a young family many years ago. With the growth happening in our community, I'm excited to be a part of the growth in our mini version of our town, where our kids will feel their importance.
Giovanna Herrera
Katie Durand