{photo credit: Jessica Wilson, staff photos: Michelle Dorman, Jenna Burns' photo: Emily Orme}
We've almost completed our entire series of Friday Faces (one more week to go!), and today we bring you a remarkably productive and supportive bunch. Although many of these ladies are not often interacting with students or parents directly, they are essential to the day-to-day operations of our program. Thank you to everyone here for sharing your answers with us, and for all the ways you serve our school community!
Katie Morales
Executive Assistant and HR Coordinator
Q: How long have you been at SLOCA?
A: I just completed my first year with SLOCA at the end of July.
Q: What brought you here? How did you discover our school?
A: I discovered SLOCA when I was perusing through non-profits in the SLO area, after my husband and I decided it was time to move back to CA following completion of his MA program in Portland, OR. I instantly knew this was where I wanted to be because of my own experience with classical education in college, when attending the Torrey Honors Institute at BIOLA University.
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I am sure there were endless ideas in my head of what I would want to be when I grew up, but I think the dominant desire of my childhood was to be a dolphin trainer. Who didn't have that dream?!
Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A: 6 pairs of shoes and 5 pairs of Rainbow sandals.
Q: What do you like on your pizza?
A: Anything but jalapenos! One of my unexpected favorites is a pizza with angel-hair pasta, chicken, and ranch dressing on it – the Annie Oakley from the Gourmet Pizza Shoppe in Redlands.
Q: Name a book you read this summer and enjoyed, or have read this year.
A: I’m currently venturing into Bram Stoker's Dracula and excited to see where it takes me!
Debbie Lee
Assistant to the High School Director
Q: How long have you been at SLOCA?
A: 3 years
Q: What brought you here? How did your discover our school?
A: SLOCA was referred to me when I was looking at Kindergarten schools for my son Jake. I was considering our local public school, but I had an intuition that public school would not be the best fit for Jake. At the time my sister had heard about SLOCA from one of her friends, and she suggested I take a look at it. So I came to one of the Wednesday community tours, and that's where I immediately knew that SLOCA was the school for Jake. After hearing Cozy and Susie describe the school and its mission that day, I felt an overwhelming sense of belonging and an excitement for the type of education Jake would receive at SLOCA.
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be a veterinarian. (I've always loved animals!)
Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A: 3 pairs of running shoes, 3 pairs of flip flops, 1 pair of Ugs, 6 pair of dance shoes/boots, 2 pairs of hiking shoes, 1 pair of dress boots, 1 pair of cowgirl boots, 1 pair of snow boots, 11 pair of sandals/dress shoes. 29!! (Wow…I didn't realize I had that many!)
Q: What do you like on your pizza?
A: Pesto, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms
Q: Name a book you read this summer and enjoyed, or have read this year.
A: Mindset…It's fascinating!
Michelle Lea
SLOCA Accountant
Q: How long have you been at SLOCA?
A: I have been at SLOCA almost 3 years.
Q: What brought you here? How did you discover our school?
A: After years of wanting to go out on my own and start my own accounting/bookkeeping business, in 2012 I decided to finally take the plunge! I heard SLOCA was looking for an accountant and thought it would be a great fit. It has been a great 3 years and I enjoy being a part of SLOCA.
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be a teacher and a mom (just like my mom!)
Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A: WAY too many, but I'd much rather be barefoot!
Q: What do you like on your pizza?
A: I like just about anything – as long as it has red sauce! I am not a big fan of BBQ sauce or white sauce on pizza.
Q: Name a book you read this summer and enjoyed, or have read this year.
A: This summer I read The Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman, which was recommended to me by my daughter.
Jenna Burns
WASC Coordinator
Q: How long have you been at SLOCA?
A: I've been at SLOCA for 7 years.
Q: What brought you here? How did you discover our school?
A: I discovered our school through a friend named Dori Iunker. She told me about a job opening and the rest is history.
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: When I was a kid I wanted to be a teacher. I subjected my little sister to playing school all the time, where, of course, I played the teacher.
Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A: I'm actually not much of a shoe person. I like to have one good pair that I wear until it falls apart.
Q: What do you like on your pizza?
A: Mmmm pizza – I can't say that I'm picky but if I'm the one ordering I'd go with pepperoni. Classic.
Q: Name a book you read this summer and enjoyed, or have read this year.
A: My husband and I recently finished reading Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It is an imaginative and exciting book set in a futuristic society on Mars. We are now reading the sequel Golden Son.
Jenny Bischoff
Down Home Blog Curator
Q: How long have you been at SLOCA?
A: This is my 10th year as a parent, and my 6th year working here – I was a Nice Office Lady for 2 years, and now this is the 4th year I’ve been working on the blog.
Q: What brought you here? How did you discover our school?
A: I heard about SLOCA when it first started from a homeschooling friend, although I never wanted to homeschool! But during SLOCA’s first year, I went to a couple of parent meetings, and volunteered in one of the classrooms a few times, and knew it was something special. We enrolled our oldest the following year when she was in 1st grade, and now she’s a sophomore in SLOCA’s high school (where did the time go?!). I began working for the school when an opening for Nice Office Lady came along, and then moved over to work on the blog when that opportunity arose. It’s been amazing to be a part of Team SLOCA as well as a parent in this wonderful community. SLOCA is indeed a special place!
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: As a young child I wanted to read books all day long and would have loved to do that for a living. In high school I was drawn to science (especially genetics) for a time, and then gravitated toward graphic design. But I never had one special thing I wanted to be when I grew up.
Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A: Wow, who came up with this question? (ahem) Since I made everyone else answer it, I went and counted my shoes and there are exactly 36 pairs, most of which I never wear. Time to purge!
Q: What do you like on your pizza?
A: I want to try the breaded eggplant that Mrs. Wright mentioned! But I like all the fancy stuff: goat cheese, kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, fresh herbs, and thin crust.
Q: Name a book you read this summer and enjoyed, or have read this year.
A: Hannah Coulter was delightful to read this fall. This past summer I read Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee, after re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird. Earlier this year I read and thoroughly enjoyed My Name Is Resolute by Nancy E. Turner (historical fiction set in the time of the American colonies), and I also read Jane Eyre for the third time – one of my all time favorites!
Jeannett Gibson
Lab @ SLOCA Developer
Q: How long have you been at SLOCA?
A: Two of our four kids, Henry and Lucy, just started this fall in Third and First grades, respectively.
Q: What brought you here? How did you discover our school?
A: We've been friends with many SLOCA families since the very beginning of the school 10 years ago. For the better part of the last ten years, we've lived in Santa Maria and thought we would try other schooling options that didn't include quite the commute (although we know many families do it all the time!). In the meantime, we attended Trivium Charter School and upon moving to Arroyo Grande in the last year, we thought it was time to make the switch to SLOCA now that we were much closer.
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I was raised an only child, and had a really over active imagination, so I would bet I played pretend at just about anything you can possibly think of! I do distinctly remember especially loving to pretend I was a travel agent. I had “stolen” several dozen travel brochures from our local agent when my grandmother was booking a trip to Portugal…took them home, set them all up just like at the office, and spent hours booking trips for all of my imaginary customers (including, but not limited to, Rainbow Brite, three Care Bears, four Cabbage Patch Kids, and yes, even Teddy Ruxpin. Ken and Barbie were ALWAYS on their honeymoon. Crazy kids.), to exotic locales around the globe. I took detailed notes, asked lots of questions on my pink plastic phone, and memorized all the amenities and special features advertised in the colorful pamphlets. I never did become a travel agent, but I did begin to learn that one of my favorite things to do is behind the scenes coordination for other people!
Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A: I own fewer than 10 pairs of actual “shoes”… but probably closer to 30 pairs of flip flops in every style, color, and even a few with big, blingy rhinestones. You know, for dressing up.
Q: What do you like on your pizza?
A: Palo Mesa Pizza has a Hot Hawaiian pizza…Canadian bacon, regular bacon, pineapple, and jalapenos. It's the perfect blend of sweet and spicy saltiness… if it makes my nose run, it's one of my favorites!
Q: Name a book you read this summer and enjoyed, or have read this year.
A: This summer I read Scary Close by Donald Miller. As an introvert who can easily fall trap to the comforts of my home, in the company of my immediate family, it reminded me of how important my story was and how I was created to be me… and not anyone else. Even if that means I'm not everyone's cup of tea. As I get older, I'm more and more okay with that. As the kids say, #sorrynotsorry.
Melissa Godsey
Community Development
Q: How long have you been at SLOCA?
A: Our daughter started preschool at SLOCA in 2013, and her first day of kindergarten (this year) was also my first day on staff.
Q: What brought you here? How did you discover our school?
A: About 9 years ago I had the pleasure of working with a SLOCA parent at a previous job (I was a technology teacher at Apple), and he would occasionally bring his daughters with him to his classes. He was an excellent student himself, but I was completely blown away by his young daughters. I remember them to this day. I had never met such curious, joyful and articulate children before, and after getting to know them better, I couldn’t help but ask him what his family was doing differently. It was clear that he valued his own education (evidenced by taking computer classes as an adult), so when he explained SLOCA to me, and I heard the girls’ opinion of their school experience, a lightbulb went on for me. I knew that’s what I wanted for my kids. (Bear in mind this all happened before I met my husband, and well before we had our daughter. I definitely bookmarked that memory for later!)
Over the years since then I’ve met other SLOCA families in other settings, and each one reinforced what I observed: SLOCA families are curious about the world around them, and are passionate pursuers of their education. The parents take great joy in continuously learning, and their kids definitely “catch” it early on.
Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: Oh gosh, so many things! My earliest memory is wanting to be a paleontologist. After that, I wanted to be the person who wrote the encyclopedia. (Remember those? Ha!)
Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A: Okay, so I would have guessed 10, but I counted and the answer is 24. 24!? How did that happen?
Q: What do you like on your pizza?
A: Garlic white sauce, extra cheese, and as many veggies as you can pile on there, especially artichoke hearts.
Q: Name a book you read this summer and enjoyed, or have read this year.
A: It took me a while to finish, but Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman pulled the rug out from underneath me, in a good way. It shocked me by demonstrating how even the most logical people are highly susceptible to making poorly reasoned choices. The book is a great starting point for reckoning with one’s own cognitive biases, and how those might impact the decisions we make in our day-to-day lives.
