First, I would like to thank the Young Samaritan’s Club and its advisor Chad Hodgson for all the time and hard work they put into this Wall of Fame project. And especially to Karena for the excellent biography. The club helps the Belleville community in many ways, and it’s all very much appreciated.
I feel very honored to be here with the rest of these nominees. I received a call from Mr. Perry and when that call comes from the District Administrator, what is the first thing you think…oh boy, what did I do now? He proceeded to explain about the nomination…I have to admit, I did not make it easy for him…I was sure there must be some criteria to be met in order to even be nominated and I couldn’t possibly meet many or any of them…but he was very convincing and here I am, making a speech and all.
I’ve been working at Belleville schools in some capacity in technology since 1986. I first worked behind the scenes part-time to help set up a database for the special ed department. In 1990, I was asked if I would like to work at the Elementary School which had a just-completed addition with new Kindergarten classrooms, a library and computer lab. I would be working with 5-to-8 year olds in the new computer lab…I quickly learned what fun this was and so satisfying to see their faces light up when they touched a key and something happened on the screen! I sometimes thought - are they actually paying me to do this? The staff at the ES was very supportive, worked well together, and I learned so much about how small children’s minds work from them! I also got involved with the adjacent library and learned I loved that, too! The two seemed to go hand-in-hand. I’ve worked with 5 librarians here and two dedicated library aides. We have all agreed that making the library accessible for students to be as productive as possible was an important goal. We often tell everyone ‘The Library has everything!’
When the high school was completed in 1997, it was strongly suggested that I relocate to the library in the new building – who wouldn’t want to work in that brand new library/multipurpose area and watch the seasons change on the trees of the Oliver Trail through that wall of windows? And, it was a change for sure – from helping 5-to-8 year olds put on coats and showing them where the space bar is on the keyboard to getting high schoolers to even look at me, let alone speak, was quite the culture shock! I even think my three daughters thought I went to the high school to work just to follow them around! I did not!!
I have been blessed to have supervisors and co-workers throughout my computer career who were willing to share their knowledge with me. I have been an on-the-job learner since 1965 to this very day. To think that the first computer I worked with took up a whole room, read holes in punched cards and has evolved into a much more powerful device that can fit in your hand is still remarkable to me. It takes a vivid imagination to imagine yourself back in 1965 when every piece of information about anything was punched on 80-column IBM cards. The original machines that processed those cards were so big and heavy they had to be housed in the basement because the regular floors could not support them. When the punched cards got jammed going through the feeder of these machines, the whole process stopped until the cards were replaced….often more than once during a job. Oh, the good old days….or maybe not.
Every school and community project, every event that I have been involved with here in Belleville has been a joint effort between myself and the wonderful people that I’ve worked beside. We all work hard together to be sure the students get what they need to succeed, celebrate their accomplishments, and help them become lifelong learners and that is the best feeling ever. In the words of Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame, “There is a lot of stuff we can’t control, but it is completely in our power to decide what the definition of a good job is. That’s up to us." I have dedicated my life to trying to do a ‘good job’.
Thank you.
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