Northwestern Wisconsin is home to beautiful scenery and an abundance of recreational opportunities for locals and visitors alike. Residents of Shell Lake and Spooner talk about what attracts them to the area and what draws them away.
Dana Kampa, UW-Madison student
When Dana Kampa feels stress building up from school or work, she tends to go outside “to relax and turn the focus away” from herself.
Kampa, a sophomore studying journalism at UW-Madison, inherited a rooted appreciation for the outdoors while growing up in Spooner, Wisconsin, where her father works at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). She is soft-spoken and thoughtful, and speaks her mind with a pursed smile on her lips.
“Being in tune with nature does kind of help build your character,” she says. “It’s just kind of reflected in all of your actions.”
An intern at the DNR, she helps dredge lakes and rivers up north in the summer and writes magazine pieces for the organization during the school year. While she treasures her childhood in Spooner, Kampa hopes to move to a bigger city when she graduates.
“You can feel a little trapped sometimes, honestly,” she says. “When you get outside it kind of helps alleviate that.”
Jeri Bitney, Realtor
Realtor and resident of Shell Lake, Wisconsin, Jeri Bitney says real estate is a profitable job if you are willing to work seven days a week. She spends thousands of dollars a year on gas, driving from house to house and town to town, showing properties to prospective homeowners.
“And I don’t earn anything unless I sell something,” she says.
She was born in Amery, Wisconsin, and moved to the Shell Lake area after her husband graduated from Hamline Law School.
“I lived in the Twin Cities for three years and my husband hated every minute of it,” she says.
Bitney stayed home with her three daughters for 15 years while her husband worked. When her daughters started leaving for college, it was important to her that they graduated school without debt. She found a job in real estate that would allow her to provide their tuition.
“I didn’t want them to have loans,” she says. “And they don’t.”
Her daughters are done with school now, but Bitney continues to lend her expertise to hopeful homeowners seven days a week.
David Schraufnagel, Insurance Agent
Thirty-two years ago, David Schraufnagel moved from the southern suburbs of Milwaukee to Shell Lake. At the time, he was apprehensive about the shift, but his wife wanted to move up north and he had been offered a job to work as an insurance agent.
“I thought I was a big city guy,” he says.
In the years since, Schraufnagel has proven otherwise. He continues to work at Lake Insurance, a small independent insurance agency in downtown Shell Lake he owns with his wife. He has also served as a volunteer firefighter for over 30 years, part of that time as fire chief.
“Although my business is as a people person, when I leave work, I don’t mind not seeing people,” he says.
Schraufnagel lives about a mile north of downtown Shell Lake and appreciates the outdoors and privacy it affords him. His children live in the Twin Cities now, but he enjoys introducing his grandchildren to the creek and woods outside his home when they visit.
“I plan on never moving,” he says. “We built the house 30 years ago and I figure I’ll die there.”
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