Ed Larsen
Yearbook Sales Representative
I am beginning my third year as a Yearbook Sales Representative in the Houston area. Prior to joining Walsworth, I taught high school scholastic journalism and English for 23 years. I also spent three years in local church ministry, and my first career of 12 years was spent behind radio broadcast microphones in Omaha and Wichita where I DJ’d Top 40, Country, Classic Rock and Oldies music formats as well as reported and broadcasted sports play-by-play for news/sports stations.
My role is to provide service and support for yearbook advisers and student staffs from our customer schools and to continue growing the Walsworth Yearbook brand in the Houston market by adding new schools each year. Every day is different because each of our customer and prospect schools is unique. My role is to tap into the goals, objectives and needs of each yearbook classroom. I rely on my years of classroom and professional journalism experience to build relationships and trust with the advisers I meet and work with.
I was interested in coming to Walsworth because I knew Keith Hughey (Walsworth Sales Training Manager) when we taught yearbook and attended summer yearbook camps together in the Kansas Flint Hills back in the 90s. I loved the idea of having an impact on students again, as well as helping the many new, young advisers find a passion for it too.
I love to help train students and new advisers on our technology and use our curriculum and educational resources to help yearbook staffs produce a better-quality book each year. I love the mentoring role I can play for new advisers and it has helped me convince some prospects to join the Walsworth family.
My personalized coffee mug would say: “Almost Famous” (because my entire adult life, I’ve been told I look like Kevin Bacon).
I want to come to work every day because the teacher in me wants to see learning and growth in the people I work with, and the competitor in me wants to see Walsworth win business from our competition.
Back when I was in the classroom, one of my favorite icebreakers at the beginning of the school year was playing a game called “Two Truths and a Lie.” I used to use these:
- I was born when Dwight Eisenhower was president.
- I survived a helicopter emergency skid landing when the engine failed at 1000 feet altitude.
- I have five children and 10 grandchildren.
(see correct answer below)
My wife, Colleen, and I have a blended family with seven children, who range in age from 30 to 43 and live in Iowa, California, Texas, Turkey and Armenia, and our youngest daughter is in Heaven. We constantly fight for the bed covers and legroom with our rescue mutt terrier Bonnie, our orange tabby cat, Lily, and our temporary guest, a miniature Yorkie named Madison.
In my free time, I love playing golf, reading a good fiction book and watching college and professional football and baseball. I love watching the College World Series each year in Omaha. I’m a bit of a nomad as a native Minnesotan, but grew up in Omaha, lived in southern Kansas for 11 years, and now for 23 years in Katy, Texas. I recently completed a bucket list activity by traveling to all 50 states during my lifetime. I’ve also visited France, Germany, Turkey, Armenia, Israel, Mexico, Canada and the Bahamas.
Walsworth has given me the opportunity to challenge myself intellectually in a completely different career endeavor at an age when most people are riding into the sunset. It’s helping me better prepare financially for those “sunset years” while still providing me a sense of satisfaction and renewed purpose in life.
I spent nearly 50 years of my life singing in church choirs, from my adolescent years through my 50s, I contributed to the music ministry in churches all over the Midwest and most recently in Texas for the contemporary music worship team. I always felt my teaching career was as much a ministry to young people as it was “educational.” My wife just retired from her career as a kindergarten teacher after 21 years, so much of our community contribution has been our vocational roles in educating children for the future.
Some of my favorite memories of working at Walsworth are my training experiences in Overland Park and Brookfield/Marceline. Meeting new colleagues and sharing those intensive weeks together helped us bond as a sales class, and I love our reunion time at NSM each year.
