Home for a while, then on the road again

These few weeks are crazy in our household. Z2, Kiki Aru and I arrived home from Caldwell on Saturday. The picture above shows Kiki Aru and her two friends doing their performance on the conflict of the Salem Witch Trials. They did a great job.

I'll post the documentary Z2 made with her friends on the Conflict and Compromise of the Coeur d'Alene Indian's Tribe soon.

PKR and The Princess hop on a bus tomorrow morning and head to State Speech competition in Rupert, Idaho. They'll return early Sunday morning.

Today, Kiki Aru is in Coeur d'Alene at Triple Play for a band field trip.

Z2 takes off to the Great White North on Sunday morning to a trip to Inverness, British Columbia on a band trip. She'll return on Tuesday.

Then there is my schedule. I go away for the weekend to the beautiful town of Cataldo for a Women's Encounter weekend with some ladies from our church. I get home Sunday afternoon, then I take a few deep breaths and prepare for my trip to Boise the next morning for my spring Gear Up conference. I'll be back on Wednesday afternoon.

If reading this schedule tires you out, just think how I am feeling!!

But I'll get to spend some time with some friends in Boise, so that will be good. I look forward to that.

So if you don't hear much from me in the next week, you'll know why.

Time to GEAR UP for my new job

Since graduating from college, I have had a long and winding career path, from college admissions director to radio announcer, to newspaper reporter, to office manager.

Next week, I add GEAR UP Site Coordinator to the list.

I got a new job. It was one of those serendipitous occasions where everything fell into place and all the stars aligned and I was approached about this position and I applied and went for an interview and got the job.

GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs.

The goal of GEAR UP for the Kellogg School District is to provide comprehensive early intervention services for Kellogg Middle School students in cooperation with their parents that will help them learn about, prepare for and succeed in college.

The mission of GEAR UP Idaho is to inspire students to become active in their educational experience and to ensure they are academically prepared for advancement to post-secondary education; and to increase the economic development and quality of life of Idaho residents by offering avenues to post-secondary education.

So I get to spend the next five years working with students helping them become more successful as students and to show them how getting a high school education and education beyond high school can open up a whole new world for them.

This has been a passion of mine since my first job as the Director of Admissions and Public Relations at Dawson Community College in Glendive, Montana.

I can't tell you how excited I am to help develop this program.

I am flying down to Boise next month to find out more about the program and get some training, and also attend a conference in Spokane to learn more. These two things will help me get started.

So I'm phasing out of my old job and phasing into the new one.

Lots of changes in our household this fall. PKR changing teaching jobs and going to Kellogg High School, me working at Kellogg Middle School, The Princess starting her senior year, Z2 going into 8th grade, and Kiki Aru starting 6th grade at KMS.

We are all looking forward to the changes...