Michelle is an administrator at Bay High Focus Program. She used to teach at an entrepreneurship focused program earlier in her career. Michelle enjoys working at the Bay because it’s a job that combines her marketing and Entrepreneurship background with the technical skills of the computer, photography and digital design. She says her favorite thing about her job is that she doesn’t have to do a lot of behavior management, instead she gets to do a lot of instructional coaching with teachers and support students with their academic needs because she works at a Focus Program.
Michelle had many ideas of what she wanted to be when she grew up. “When I was a kid I thought I was going to be, first of all the president of the United States and then I was going to be a lawyer and then a chiropractor and then eventually I wanted to be a drama director. However, I learned that I can’t sew, so I became a teacher instead. And I wanted to get paid to read, that was my goal, and so I became an English teacher. Then I realized that what I was getting paid to read was really poor student writing instead of great books.”
Michelle is from Pierre, South Dakota. She says, “It’s very much like Lincoln except completely not. It has only 12,000 people, it’s very small and has a very educated populace.” She explains that neither one of her parents had gone to college and she was the first one.
During high school and college Michelle was very involved. “One of the reasons I became a teacher is because I loved school so much.” She played varsity tennis, She was involved in theater and choir. She played in the band and she was the president of several clubs. “ I pretty much spent my whole life at school,” she states. She continued theater in college for a short period of time but when she transferred she was working full-time to pay for school which made her really cut down on activities.
Michelle grew up in a dog family. Her brother used to have a fear of dogs so her parents got one to help him get over that fear. She explains that she never thought she was a cat person, “I was kind of raised to hate cats and I’m allergic to cats,” but now she has 3 cats which she loves very much.
Her biggest hobby is reading, but ever since COVID she explains that she’s struggled with attention. Now she listens to audiobooks on her iPad while playing a game. “I consider myself a gamer a little bit, but not traditional kinds. Like old lady kinds like matching games, hidden pictures, crosswords…” She also enjoys crocheting in the winter and gardening in the summer.
It’s ok to get involved with things you enjoy even if they won’t stick with you. In the end, you’ll learn something.