My Life; St. Cloud City Councilman Mike Conway [AUDIO]

Everybody has a story to tell and this is the story of St. Cloud City Council Member Mike Conway.  Conway grew up in Rosemount in the Twin Cities metro with his brother, mother and father.  Mike's father was a traveling salesman for an equipment company and his mother was a teller at a bank.  He says he, his brother and their friends would play all day and his mother would ring a bell which told them it was time to come home. Conway recalls dinner was a 6:30 and you were expected to be there.  He says bell could be heard for miles.

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Conway recalls creating his own entertainment with friends playing baseball, hockey or whatever they could come up with.  He says often times they would modify the rules because they didn't have enough kids.  Conway recalled in school gravitating toward science classes.  He says he loved biology and physics.  Conway's interests ranged from science to swimming and diving in high school.  He was also very social and was voted the most talkative male in his graduating class.  Conway won numerous medals while in high school for his swimming and diving accomplishments.  After completion of high school Mike enrolled at UW-La Crosse to dive for them with the hopes of becoming an Olympic diver.  Conway explained life got in the way of those plans.

After a semester at UW-La Crosse Mike says his girlfriend at the time, got pregnant.  He says they decided to get married and within the next 4 years they had 3 kids.  Instead of pursuing a teaching degree at UW-La Crosse Mike worked odd jobs to make ends meet.  He recalls driving a truck, working at a grocery warehouse, and he worked in a metal fabrication shop.  Conway also managed a Carbone's Pizza restaurant.

After hurting his back at a grocery warehouse he received a workman's compensation settlement.  This led Mike to pursue his teaching degree.  He chose St. Cloud State over Mankato State.  Conway graduated with a biology and teaching degree at SCSU.  He got his first teaching job at Humboldt High School in St. Paul while still living in St. Cloud.  He commuted for 3 years before landing a teaching job at Sartell-St. Stephen High School.  Conway decided to get out of teaching after 1 year in Sartell.

Conway's next step was to take a job with Business Records in Waite Park.  He worked in customer support for 2 years.  Conway then left that job to take a position with Bankers Systems (now Wolters Kluwer).  He has been there for the past 23 years.  Mike has 2 sons and a daughter and all 3 were involved in sports in St. Cloud.  He recalls his sons playing hockey and his daughter was involved with dance.  Mike also coached his sons while they played youth hockey for the St. Cloud Youth Hockey Association.

Mike says he was always interested in politics and considers himself conservative my nature.  He ran for school board prior to running for city council but wasn't elected.  When he ran for 4th ward St. Cloud city council in 2018, he won.  He is serving his 3rd term on the council.  Conway last month announced he is running for St. Cloud Mayor after current Mayor Dave Kleis chose not to run for re-election.

If you'd like to listen to my 4-part conversation with Mike Conway, it is available below.