Welcome! Read this page to learn a little more about me.

A “LITTLE” BIT ABOUT ME:

Like many of you, I’m a first generation college student. I joined active duty military for three years as a secretary in order to fund my college education. During and since this time, I have attended a few two-year colleges to include the extension campus of Monterey Peninsula College located at Fort Ord, CA; Clark College in Vancouver, WA; and then eventually Cochise College in Sierra Vista, AZ, where I earned my Associate’s in General Studies.

Although I did not know what I wanted to be, I had a “clear” goal of earning a 4-year degree! The traditional, familiar career choices of teacher or nurse had crossed my mind, but eventually I ended up with a bachelor’s of Science (BS) degree in Nutritional Science from the University of Arizona. That was in 1993!  Other than a partial dietetic internship in 1993, I haven’t pursued this career direction.

Had I researched this career choice better and realized there was going to be a commitment of a dietetic internship (ranging from 6 months to a year-non-paid) and then an RDA certification exam upon successful completion of the internship, I’m sure I would have chosen another field such as business, as this would have allowed me more flexibility in the job market and would have been more in line with my general interests.

So, as you peruse your career choices, let me suggest you visit the reference librarian  and ask to see the Occupational Outlook Handbook and Vocational Guidance books. These books will give you a description of different careers, the job market outlook for these careers, and the average pay. You may also want to take some career interest surveys at www.princetonreview.com/cte/quiz/default.asp or you can go to the career toolbox at http://www.myfuture.com/t2_ctoolbox.html to help you determine what kinds of jobs meet your interests. Additionally, you can do some job shadowing where you take a day to follow a professional in the field of interest to you.

Good luck to you as you explore your career paths!

CAREER BACKGROUND

My current career path as a secretary began really in junior high when I took a typing class using a manual typewriter. When I moved up to high school, I took a class using the new electric typewriters. In my senior year in high school they opened a brand new Vocational Skills Center where I took a year in word processing using a dedicated word processor and received a word processing certificate.  A dedicated word processor is fairly equivalent to the word processing and spreadsheet applications available on many home computers today.

My next experience with a typing device was when I entered the military job training as a secretary at Fort Jackson, SC. Believe it or not, it was here that I once again met up with the manual typewriter. Yes, manual!  How sad, but familiar. I graduated from this training and was certified to type military-style documents to include memos, letters, standard operating procedures, etc.

From there I was sent to my hometown recruiters office for a few months where I helped recruiters recruit other high school juniors and seniors by making phone calls and giving presentations at high schools. I’m sure I disappointed a few mom’s when they found that “no, their son didn’t finally have a new girlfriend”, but rather I was calling their son to see if he was interested joining the Army! Ooops!

My final and only military duty station was at Fort Ord, CA, where I started out as a secretary, or administrative assistant, at the battalion level. The civilian equivalent is probably like an Administrative Assistant for an executive person who is in charge of at least 3-4 other companies.  From here, I was referred and promoted to the position as secretary to the post’s assistant commander for support, which the civilian equivalent would probably be the secretary for an assistant CEO of a huge cooperation.

I’ll make the rest short and sweet. I was honorably discharged from the military after serving three years, went to college, got married, had a baby girl, continued pursing my degree, and in 1993 earned a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of AZ in Tucson.  Since this time, I have had jobs in medical transcription and other various secretarial jobs, and just prior to getting this job as Secretary Senior for TRIO Student Support Services in September of 2001, I worked for Pierce Transit’s Union office.

EDUCATIONAL BELIEFS

The greatest learning occurs when we learn how to truly connect and communicate with others. Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, offers this insight “Seek first to understand and then to be understood.” He suggests one listens to another person empathetically, so that you can allow yourself to see the world the way the other person sees it by understanding the way they truly feel by getting inside that other person’s frame of reference. You look out through it, you see the world the way they see the world, you understand their paradigm, and you understand how they feel. 

It’s not that you agree with someone; it’s that you fully, deeply understand that person, emotionally as well as intellectually. What a powerful way to learn about another person’s perception. This gives you accurate data to work with. Instead of projecting your own autobiography and assuming thoughts, feelings, motives and interpretation, you’re dealing with the reality inside another person’s head and heart. You’re listening to understand. You’re focused on receiving the deep communication of another human soul. How powerful! He says, next to physical survival, the greatest need of a human being is psychological survival—to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated.

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