Month: November 2015

What is your title at EvCC, and what will you be doing in your day-to-day endeavors at the College?

I am a Program Specialist 3 with the eLearning Department. I will be troubleshooting and orienting students and faculty to Canvas. I will do orientations for students, and assist faculty with using Canvas as a teaching tool. I will basically be endeavoring to become a Canvas expert and resource on campus.

Tell us a little about your professional background.

I have been really blessed to try my hand at many different jobs in a variety of fields. I worked multiple jobs throughout my school experience to get a feel of what I enjoyed doing and what my aptitudes are. I started working at Everett Community College in the Student Activities Department (now Student LIFE) while I was working toward my Associates degree. I started as an office assistant, became office manager the following year, and then finally the Special Events Coordinator for the Student Programs Board. I received my Bachelor’s degree in Human Services from Western Washington University through University Center where I also worked as an office assistant and a temporary Program Assistant for WWU on campus. I completed three internships during the course of my Bachelor’s degree at Everett Transitional Housing, The Office of Public Defense, and Olympic Ballet Theatre. I have also worked for Imagine Children’s Museum in Visitor Services and the Everett Fire Department as an Administrative Assistant in their Training Department. This summer, I worked for tech companies like Valve, Square Enix, and Microsoft as a brand ambassador at events like the Dota 2 Championship and PAX Prime.

What was your first job?

I started working occasionally at my Step-Dad’s firewood processing business, Gold Bar Trading Post, when I was about 13 years old. It was hard work, but I was taught about running a small business, working with people from all walks of life, and to be alert and aware (flying firewood is no joke!) I also moved to Puerto Rico just before my 18th birthday to work on a Mennonite Mission where I homeschooled missionaries’ children and helped out with Vacation Bible School and the elderly population.

What does a typical day look like for you?

During the week, I drop my 11 and 14 year old sisters off at the bus stop and then head to work. Currently, I am doing a lot of training and learning the typical questions people have about Canvas by answer phone calls and e-mails. I am usually on campus from 7:40am-5:00pm. After work, I run errands, do chores, or work out and then crash in front of Netflix. My husband works 2nd shift so we don’t get to see a lot of each other during the week. There is never a typical weekend with us, sometimes we take short trips, catch up with friends, volunteer, or just be lazy.

Describe yourself at 10 years old.

At 10 years old, I was struggling to learn live without my Dad, who was a police officer killed in the line of duty when I was 8. I spent most of my time when I wasn’t in school outside on our 5 ½ wooded acres, taking dance classes, or writing. Even at a young age I had many interests and wanted to pursue them all. I wanted to be professional ballet dancer for the New York City Ballet, a detective, and an author. Ambitious! I still really love to dance, and take classes whenever I can. I have done ballet, modern, lyrical, hip-hop, jazz, tap, Irish Step-dancing, Scottish Highland and Country dancing, and dabbled in partner dancing like Swing. I wouldn’t say I am very talented, I just really enjoy it.

What’s the one thing you can’t live without?

That’s hard. I think I could live without a lot of things if I had to, but I have become pretty dependent on the internet. I definitely would not like living without my husband. He is my best friend and supporter.

Are you messy or organized?

Organized for the most part. I am a neat freak, but sometimes the time just isn’t there.

What is the most important/valuable thing you have learned in the last five years?

Do not compare yourself or your journey to other people. It will drive you crazy, and hinder you from becoming the best you can be.

What’s on your bucket list?

I would love to go to Ireland and England. Some of the family’s background is Irish and I have just always wanted to go there. I also love English television shows, and there is the Harry Potter museum…

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

I have talked about dance, but right now I am into Japanese Lolita Fashion. Lolita is a fashion based on historical Rococo, Victorian, and Baroque fashions (nothing to do with Nabokov’s novel). It is a fun way to dress, because it is like wearing clothing out of a fairy tale and people get really creative with it. There is a fairly large west coast community that gets together to do all sorts of activities from going to conventions to tea parties to going out to eat, which I participate in. It is a great way to get to know people from around the world, too.

What are you reading right now/ what was the last book you read? Are you participating in any reading challenges?

I listen to Dead Beat by Jim Butcher as an audiobook while I commute. Dead Beat is part of a modern fantasy/mystery series called the Dresden Files. It is so addicting.

If you could witness any historical event, what would you want to see? Why?

I am interested in women’s studies and the evolution of gender roles, etc. I would like to witness some of the pivotal events in women’s suffrage, maybe picketing the White House or the 1917 march in New York.

Where is your hometown? Were you born and raised in the same place?

I was born in Seattle. I lived in Shoreline until I was 7, and in Machias until I was 16, when my family moved to Arlington.

How many homes have you lived in since you were born?

About eight.

If your life were a book, what would it be titled?

Truth is Stranger than Fiction, my life has been a little unusual.

Do you have a favorite quote/ piece of advice?

We do not need the magic to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

~J. K. Rowling

What is your title at EvCC, and what will you be doing in your day-to-day endeavors at the College?

I work at the College’s Early Learning Center as their full-time Floating Teacher, which means that I go into classrooms where teachers need breaks – or help cover for teachers who are out – and help clean, change diapers, play with children, and in general promote the enrichment of our early learners. I literally ‘float’ between classrooms, since I am rarely in the same classroom two days running, and can sometimes be in as many as three classrooms a day.

Tell us a little about your professional background.

I actually started working for the Early Learning Center two years ago as a part-time teacher, since I was still a student, and became full-time this last fall quarter. Before that, I started my own private piano studio teaching beginning students in their homes. And even farther back, I began a small fiber arts business selling my own creatively spun yarn and finished products, i.e. bags, shawls, hats, fingerless gloves, etc. I continue with both businesses, and actively attend fiber festivals and pedagogy trainings.

What was your first job?

My first job was at a small puppet company in Tennessee when I was about fifteen or sixteen. They toured around the country with their own productions, collaborated with local artists and dancers to create new forms for their craft, and also traveled to local schools for puppetry workshops and performances. I would go to the small house they had their office and workshop in, and deep clean and organize after workshops and performances, file paperwork, and transcribe their scripts onto the computer.

Describe yourself at 10 years old.

At ten, we were partway through our second of four moves (six houses, five states, all in less than twenty years). I was homeschooled with a brother four years younger than myself, and several cats (this was before a farm was ever in the works). I had been in an environmental science 4-H club, and when we moved I started a Horse 4-H club, which I also continued in after I moved for the third time. The move was also the excuse I needed to quit learning piano, because at age ten, I hated everything about music and had to be forced to my lessons. Kind of crazy now that I am actually basing my career around it!

Are you messy or organized?

It really depends on the situation and how I feel. Some days I’ll be like a little hoover vacuum cleaner and go around picking everything up and putting it back to its proper spot. I’ve also been known to color code things and make compulsive lists. Other times I’ll be too tired or overwhelmed to move things and let things slide, until I can’t sleep in my room anymore because the mess is too much for my brain to ignore.

What is your favorite meal?

I love the creamy mushroom soup my mom makes. She actually picks the chanterelles from our farm, cooks them and blends them, and then adds a ton of heavy whipping cream. We either bake our own or heat up artisan bread for dunking and then pour a bit more cream over the top before eating.

What do you do in your spare time?

I do a lot of music after work and on the weekends. I practice piano for my lessons, but I am learning the guitar, dulcimer, and Native American flute for a future in music therapy with special needs children. I also add to my fiber art stash; this summer I spun a dozen skeins of yarn and have plans for using up the rest of my unspun fiber. My family owns a farm, so when I am actually home on the weekends I help out with the feedings and basic farm chores. We also go hiking or driving up in the national forest behind my house and up the Mountain Loop Hwy.

What’s on your bucket list?

I haven’t had the time to make a true bucket list yet, but I do know of places I want to visit, or at least revisit. My family used to take a weeklong vacation in the fall, such as the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, Vancouver Island, and very frequently England, since that’s where my mom is from. All of these places are places I fully intend to go back to for vacations in the future, though western Washington will always be my home base.

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

Apart from my music and fiber arts, I like to spend time with my horse giving him brushes or bathes, and if I really have time work with him so I can start riding again. I also spend a lot of time with my mother, we’re very close, and enjoy visiting thrift stores and book stores, and watching Hallmark movies on the weekend.

What are you reading right now/ what was the last book you read? (Or, what is on your Fall Reading List?)

I just picked up Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel at the library. I have watched the miniseries they made of the book, and was so excited I decided to read it. There were almost thirty people on the waitlist in front of me, so I can imagine that a lot of other people really enjoyed it too!

Do you have a favorite newspaper, blog?

The Guardian.

If you could witness any historical event, what would you want to see?

Iceland’s October 24, 1975, called the Women’s Day Off, or as the men knew it, the Long Friday. Although this really was not a long time ago, it was a crucial moment in equal gender representation in politics, as the first woman president in the world was elected in Iceland five years after the strike.

Where is your hometown?

Technically, I was born in Raleigh, NC, but I only lived in the area for five years before moving to Sarasota, FL; then Augusta, GA; Centerville, TN; and finally ended up in Granite Falls, WA. My family has never stayed in one place more than five years, and moved with my dad’s job, so nowhere has really felt, or even qualified as a hometown so far.

If your life were a book, what would it be titled?

I would want it to be called: ‘I’d Rather Be Sleeping’. Because I probably would be…

Do you have a favorite quote/ piece of advice?

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

~Maya Angelou