New Job ~ Same BushSam

The last few weeks have been a little bit on edge for me. I have been struggling with where I will live and what I will do for about a month. I finally made a decision to stay in the Lower Yukon School District. With this decision I have accepted a great deal of new responsibilities.

It is with great pleasure that I now announce my acceptance of a contract as the Director of Technology in LYSD. I am both excited and worried, hopeful, fearful, and generally numb. I am encouraged by the kind words and faith that my colleagues have shared with me. I look forward to being a part of a team moving in a positive direction. I want to be a cog in the machine of change.

I will not gloat and I will not boast in this humbling achievement, however. Instead I would like to share a short and certainly not complete list of the people I feel have lifted me to this position. My pride and my success is simply a reflection of their greatness and their kindness towards me. Without the mentors, friends, supportive staff, and community around me I would be nothing. Without my Father in heaven I am nothing.

The first people I must think are my parents. My father is the most influential technologist I have ever known. My mother is the most inspiring teacher I know. It is only fitting that I am now the head of a technology department in an educational institution. They have always supported me, usually when I did not deserve it, and they support me now, even from afar. I also thank my sisters for always challenging me to think differently and be unique. I thank my grandmother and extended family for teaching me what it is to be a man and a role model.

No one person deserves more thanks in this specific context and for this specific position that my friend and teacher, JGJ. He has taught me more than he knows and guided me through many a crisis, technology or otherwise. By offering me a position in the lower Yukon School District as the Educational Technology Coordinator he has opened this door to me now and, more importantly, encouraged me to enter. I will never be the Director he was, but I hope to do his legacy justice and improve that which he leaves behind.

This list is certainly not comprehensive but I thought it appropriate to mention the people who have pushed me at pivotal moments along my career path. Working backwards from JGJ, I thank The Chariot Group for providing me an opportunity to take center stage and share my knowledge with others. The name and recognition afforded me while working throughout Alaska as a consultant is no small part of what I am today. For this opportunity I am deeply indebted to the owners of the company, RT and DT.

I doubt I would've ever been hired as a consultant in Anchorage without my skills in technology and experience as a classroom teacher. The Southwest Region School District encouraged me to expand my horizons through the use of technology in my classroom. I recall my first conversations about DHCP and wireless networking with CE, and I hope he knows at this very moment how instrumental he was in my life. I thank him and LP for their guidance and constant support over those few years.

It's been a short and wild ride but I look forward to what is next. Thank you for reading... and thank you for any encouragement and help you've offered along the way.