An update!

Not sure if anyone checks this anymore, but for those true friends and family who continue to check despite months of inactivity, here is an update.

This summer was definitely an interesting summer. I was not a traditional summer break- it was more of a summer of work. I started in Colorado where I was trained to run voter registration offices across the country. I started in Pueblo, CO where I worked to find office space, but we never opened the office. Instead, I was in Colorado Springs, CO helping to open an office there. I even convinced my brother to sign on with the organization. After a couple of weeks my bro and I were contacted and asked if we would be willing to move to a new location. I chose to go to Grand Rapids, MI and Justin chose Richmond, VA.

I arrived in Grand Rapids with nothing but a computer and a place to stay- my cousins. My cousin, Jeremy, lives in Grand Rapids and he and his wife were awesome enough to let me stay in their basement. My first couple of days in Grand Rapids were spent getting to know the city, finding an office, and recruiting staff. At first, I was working out of a coffee shop with two assistant directors and a very small staff. We were able to grow and register people out of the coffee shop but, eventually, the coffee shop closed and we still had no office space (a lease was being approved). We began to work out of Rosa Park Circle and the Central Transit Center. We would meet staff there in the morning and after they were done registering people. Although circumstances were less than ideal, we continued to grow.

Finally, we were able to get into office space in mid-July. At this point, we blew up. We continued to hire... and hire... and hire. The more people we could send out, the more people we could register, the more people registered, the more people had a voice. At one point, we were the third largest campaign office out of over 60+ in our organization. This felt gratifying and I felt like I was doing the best I could, especially when I thought about my first day in Grand Rapids when I wondered the street by myself.

Overtime, we had ups and downs but we hit our goal and registered over 11,000 people in the matter of two months.

Now that the Voter Registration was over, it was time to move to the next project which was Campus Organizing. I flew out to Tempe, AZ and was trained at ASU- Tempe. This project was not all it cracked up to be; I was not trained very well or informed as to what was really going on. I felt more like a glorified gopher. On top of the crappy training, my flights got messed up- big time. In the end, I was able to fly home and I decided that his position, and political work in general, was a career path I did not want to take. So, I moved back home to Traverse City.

The first thing I did when I got home was contacted the football coaches at TC Central and began coaching again. I missed the first 3 games and all of mini-camp but I helped last year so I had some clue as to what was going on.

The next step was to find a job. I immediately began substitute teacher and about a week later I was hired as full-time staff at Central. Originally, my position was as a Special Education Aide but the swiftly moved me to the Responsible Thinking Classroom (RTC) Instructor. (If you want to know what that is click here)

That is where I am at today. I am trying to decide what the next step is. Here are my options:

1. Go to Physical Therapy school
- This would involve taking some science class at NMC and applying to a PT school
2. Get certified to teach
- I could do all of the certification necessary right here in TC
3. Join the Peace Corps
- Chance to travel the World and help out

Right now I am leaning toward choice number 1. What do you think?

Justin comes home today for a week and I am really excited! I haven't seen him since June, when we were both in Colorado Springs.

Hope this was a sufficient update. Thanks for reading.