I received an email from my mom this morning about
Penny Road Elementary celebrating 20 years in the education business. This is the school I attended on the first day it was open--coincidentally my first day of Kindergarten--until I finished the 5th grade. That makes me 25 now.
Some of the folks organizing the event
suggested blogging about my life during and since Penny Road. I have a lot of good memories there... Of course, my teachers--Ms. Spears, Ms. Ace, Ms. Mango, Ms. Delemar, Ms. Torgerson, Ms. Kelder and all of the auxiliary teachers. One of my fondest memories is being a part of the selection of the Panda as the mascot. If I remember correctly, the other choices were an owl and a crocodile.
After Penny Road, I went on to East Cary Middle, then Athens High for a year and finally to Enloe High where I graduated in 2002. After high school I left for
Cedarville University in Ohio where I majored in Math and minored in Computer Science, Physics and Bible as a Department of Homeland Security Scholar (DHS paid me to go to school!). During college I did internships at IBM at RTP twice and Sandia National Lab in Livermore, CA. At the beginning of my junior year I made the decision to join the
local volunteer fire department and received training as a firefighter and EMT. I spent an average of 30 hours a week doing volunteer work in this capacity. I met the man who has now been my husband for more than 3 years during my time volunteering with the fire department. His name is Aaron. :)
Upon finishing college, I worked as a summer intern at Reynolds & Reynolds, a car dealership software company in Dayton, OH. Aaron and I got married that summer on July 1, 2006. In the fall, I returned to school at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) on Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH as a civilian studying for an MS in Information Assurance (Computer Security). Once again, I was a DHS Fellow.
During my first year of grad school, Aaron decided to join the Army to be a
helicopter pilot. He left for Basic Training on May 1, 2007--only 10 months after we got married. During his initial training, I continued grad school and did an internship at Oak Ridge National Lab. In the fall of 2007, I joined him at Fort Rucker, AL, putting grad school on hold. At this time, we got a puppy, named Grace, who has been a delight! I quickly began working for the Army Combat Readiness Center (Safety Center). This job turned out not to be a good fit and so I found a job working at the Army Aeromedical Research Lab. I get to do all sorts of cool things! I even manage a
cluster! Tomorrow is my last day at this job as Aaron has received orders to go to
Fort Campbell. We have just bought a house there and will be moving in on Friday. I will actually not be joining him there until the spring as I my current boss is sending me back to AFIT to finish my last class and my thesis. Aaron will actually be deploying for a year at about the time I get there. Separation is an unfortunate fact of Army life.
I suppose that brings my life up to date. Here is a recent picture of Aaron and me for any teachers or classmates that might find this post...
--Kristen Pelon Lancaster
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