Family, friends, location, and the community are reasons Nikki and Cole Koons are choosing to call Mitchell home. "We've both lived in Mitchell our whole lives. We moved away to Vermillion and St. Louis for college but returned and plan to stay." stated Nikki.
Why Mitchell? "Nothing beats a great community full of our biggest supporters."
Nikki has known Cole since kindergarten at L.B. Williams Elementary, where his mom teaches kindergarten. In high school, they started dating and sat next to each other in choir class.
Nikki shares fond memories of going on motorcycle rides with her father and camping at Lake Mitchell when she was younger. She also enjoyed high school sporting events with friends and many family gatherings around town.
Cole talks about his adventurous memories of four-wheeling with friends, disc golfing at Kiwanis and dry run courses, boating, paintballing, and hunting with his father.
Both chose to attend the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where Cole earned a bachelor's degree in Biology and Nikki a bachelor's degree in Dental Hygiene. Upon graduation, they moved to St. Louis, where Cole attends chiropractic school at Logan University. Cole decided on a career in chiropractic because he believes in a holistic approach to health care. Nikki decided on a career in dental hygiene to improve smiles and overall health via oral health and nutrition.
While in St. Louis, they took advantage of the many restaurants. "We both love donuts and set a challenge to try as many donut shops as we could in the area. While many were good, nothing compared to the Daylight in Mitchell," added Nikki. Cole's challenge was the area's 30 disc golf courses.
Starting this September, Cole will be a chiropractic intern with Dr. Scott Mullenmeister at The Chiropractic Center for Healthy Living. He finishes school in December and plans to continue his career in the Mitchell community. Nikki already began working as a dental hygienist for Dr. Eric and Jen Veurink at the Dental Care Center in May this year.
In the summer months, Cole and Nikki partake of many of Mitchell's offerings: pool days, boating on the lake, bonfires, walking their three-year-old Golden Retriever, Quinn; and playing tennis. Hunting, hockey games, open skating, and movies are their favorites in the winter.
The Koons are forward thinkers and dream big for Mitchell's future. They would love to see downtown Mitchell thrive. "If we could put Sioux Falls' Phillips Avenue in downtown Mitchell, it would be amazing." They would love to see “more food options, cute cocktail bars, shops, updated exteriors, better parking options, more greenery, and updated outdoor patios.”
When asked by their friends to describe Mitchell, the Koons reply, "It's a small town surrounded by large open fields, pretty sky, laidback environment, great people and of course we always tell them about the Corn Palace."
