My New Gig

It's true... I have a new job - at least for a little while! I start on Wednesday! Thanks to my neighbor Rosalie, a neat opportunity landed right in my lap. No job searching, no interviewing, just a good old fashioned who-you-know kind of job, and maybe a little luck - being in the right place at the right time.

Rosalie is the director of a program called GEAR UP at one of our local school districts. GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness & Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. This program is run through a federal grant, administered at the state level, for low income and at-risk students. The monies are used to help prepare kids for success in college; kids that otherwise might not even have the opportunity to get a four year degree. Rosalie and I were chatting one day about her job and how stressed she was with the amount of work she had to do, and a few minutes later I was being offered a job, (well it wasn't quite that simple, but almost) and I decided to go for it!

So… I am going to be the GEAR UP Events Coordinator. My primary responsibility is going to be planning and coordinating the summer program for these kids - there are 76 of them. The kids started the grant program when they were in the 7th grade and it follows them all the way through high school. The kids are currently sophomores.

Rosalie has a lot of ideas already, but I will be the one taking her ideas and making them happen. This is not your typical summer school class. It will be more like hands-on workshops were the kids can see how the things they are learning in school apply to a job in the real world. In addition to the summer program, I will also be participating in and helping to plan other events such as monthly family nights. Family nights are for the students and their families. Everyone eats dinner together and then there is either some type of speaker (i.e. a financial aid director who talks about how to get scholarships, etc) or maybe a tour of something (one of our local tech colleges or universities).

The best part for me is that I will be working primarily from home (except on workshop & event days when I will get to go with the kids on the “field trips”). It’s also a part-time position that is currently slated to go through the end of August, at which point my contract terms will be re-evaluated. I will have the option to continue my role for the next school year, if I’m interested, and it could turn into a full-time position if I wanted it too. Sounds like I’ll have a good amount of flexibility, which will be nice.

I'm looking forward to doing something different. I've always loved school and I think it will be fun to be back in that environment. I'm also very excited that I will have an opportunity to make an impact on these kids' lives and their decisions. I think it could be really rewarding. So here's to opening up new doors, stepping outside of my comfort zone, and starting over...again.