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This past weekend, I attended the Alaska Society of Technology Education (ASTE) conference. During this conference, I had the honor to listen to the President of the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE), Bill Bass, speak about leadership. In this session he emphasized the importance of sharing your story. He further explained that everyone's story is unique, compelling and interesting. If we don't share our story, someone will do it for us! Later in the weekend, I attended the conference awards banquet, the iDidaContest (click here to view iDidaContest winners), where I saw some amazing student digital media creations and I was inspired: I want to share my story!
In 2015, I married the love of my life, Joseph Hurst. We both attended North Georgia College and State University (NGCSU). For those of you who don't know, NGCSU is not a regular college, but Georgia's Senior Military College and my husband was attending to commission into the United States Army. The military presence was apparent at NGCSU. We didn't go to the dining hall, but to chow. Intramurals took place on the Drill Field and when 5PM rolled around, we stood in a moment of silence for Retreat, the end of the work day. Therefore, when Joseph asked me to marry him at the end of his senior year, I said YES! I was a "professional ROTC girlfriend", how different could being a military spouse be? If you are a military spouse, I hope you laughed at my question. I laugh at my 20 year old self. College Chelsea had no idea what the army had in store for Joseph and I. The past five years have been a journey! We began our married life at Fort Stewart, Georgia. We lived 30 minutes from the installation in a neighboring town: Richmond Hill. Richmond Hill was the perfect, quaint southern town. I taught 6th grade Earth Science at Richmond Hill Middle School and was the Head Coach for the volleyball team. Georgia is my home, so Richmond Hill was the perfect transition into the military lifestyle. Joseph, on the other hand, didn't get to experience Richmond Hill like I did, he spent the majority of his time in Europe and Korea. I'll have to post about deployments in the future - what a learning experience all three times! Fast forward 4 years and we found ourselves in Lawton, Oklahoma for Captain's Career Course. While we were only there for six months, I was able to finish out the 2018-2019 school year as a fourth grade math teacher at Freedom Elementary School on Fort Sill. Oklahoma education was incredibly different than Georgia education- again, I'll have to address that in another post. Are you still reading? If so, you're a champion! The story is almost over. We recently moved to Fairbanks, Alaska. We packed up our belongings and drove from Oklahoma to Alaska, lived in a hotel for three months and became Alaskan home owners. Whew! Currently, I am employed by the Yukon Koyukuk School District (YKSD) as an Instructional Technology Supervisor. This position has been a blessing and inspired my website/blog. YKSD services Native Alaskan Athabascan students across the interior of Alaska. In my position, I will take a bush plane to different schools to coach teachers and students. I can't wait to share my once in a lifetime experience! So, if you're interested in what it's like to live in the arctic tundra, or curious about the challenges that come along with being an educator and a military spouse, or if you want to know more about education in Alaska- this blog will be perfect for you! I can't wait to share my story with you.
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