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	ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: I attended two elementary schools in Colorado Springs. First was Carver in the third grade and then Rudy from the third grade through the sixth grade. My best memory of that time was the final camping trip all sixth graders took to "High Trails". It was sort of an early eighties version of Outward Bound for kids. We spent a week at a camp in the mountains learning about pioneers and how they survived in Colorado and about how we could work together in teams. It was great; however, it was also the event which opened our eyes to the next step in our social education. This camp usually combined kids from schools all over the city of Colorado Springs. We were being exposed to what the next year (middle school or jr. high school) was going to be like.
	JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL: I attended Sabin Jr. High School in Colorado Springs from grades seven through nine (they have their own website now). These were fascinating years. We learned how to operate in the class period system, got our own lockers, and began to pick the classes and educational tracks that would help us on our journeys into high school and beyond. This time was both overwhelming and exciting for me. Academically, I had always excelled at school and was often times at the head of the class. During my first year at Sabin I ran into the "big fish in the little pond" syndrome when I got thrown into a much bigger pond with other big fish. I ended up doing just fine but I certainly was not at the head of the class as I had been before. I did hang our with the "geeks and nerds" crowd though. We were all in advanced classes and didn't get into sports or aother activites much. However, during my final year at Sabin the class was able to vote for people to be on the Sophmore Council at Doherty High School (where we were slated to attend). During the elections I won a spot and I hoped that would change my social position in school. The other kids elected were a totally different crowd than I usually hung out with (jocks and cheerleaders mainly).
	SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL: My final school before college was Doherty High School from grades ten through twelve (they to have their own website now). Of course once you can look back at these years from a distance you can see how much fun they were and how carefree we were. During my tenth grade year I again developed some serious anxieties because I was in all Advanced Placement (AP) classes and the competition was intense (for my anyway) I was also in Sophmore council which I though would elevate my social life immensely, and it did but I don't think I saw that very much at the time. My eleventh grade year was when I did the most teenage rebellion of all my youth. I found boys (stupid me) and made them the number one one priority of my life. My grades suffered and my classes as well. I did a lot of the things I thought were cool and fun. Now looking back they were stupid and dangerous. But I made it through and by my senior year I was pretty much back on track. Although my grades suffered during this time I still ended up graduating with a 4.2 grade average (with AP you could get more than a 4.0) and within the top 3% of my overall 600 person graduating class. My SAT's and ACT's were pretty high and I felt that I was positioned to go to a good college and get some real independence. That was until I met my future husband at 17. We dated until I was 18 and then we were married-three months before I graduated.
	COLLEGE-UNDERGRADUATE (UCCS): I began attending the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) in the summer of 1986. I was accepted into the college of engineering. At the time I had not declared a major but I was taking classes towards Computer Science (should have stuck with it!!). I spent two semesters at UCCS before I moved to Fairbanks, AK with my new husband.
	COLLEGE-UNDERGRADUATE (UAF): I began attending the University of Alaska Fairbanks during the spring semester of 1987. I was again accepted to the engineering school and declared my major as Mechanical Engineering.

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