Who is Jeff?

I worked many years in the oilfields of the world as a deep sea diver, underwater welder,  and project managers with my base in New Orleans where I lived with my wife Jill.  After she graduated with her degree in 19^th century English literature from Tulane University, she and I decided to pack what we needed into a boat and go sailing.  After two years and 16,000 miles under the keel, we found ourselves in Boca Del Toro, Panama enjoying one of the most beautiful places in the Caribbean.  It was here we found out we were going to have a baby.  We decided to turn the boat around and head back to the U.S.  Chemeketa Community College had made Jill an offer, and since she was adamant that she was “not going to be having babies in the jungles of Costa Rica,” this seemed the most prudent(and safe!) course of action.

After settling in Salem, I decided to go back to school.  I would eventually earn a degree in the Environmental Sciences and end up applying that degree in forestry fieldwork and research for Willamette University.  While working for Willamette, I have had the opportunity to work with the Willamette Academy.  The Willamette Academy reaches out to Salem area at risk youth and provides academic support and tracking to get students though middle and high school and on to college.  In a town that has a rough college admittance level of around 50% of graduating high school seniors, the Willamette Academy has been successful in getting that number up to 90%!  It was my time working with these students that it first occurred to me that teaching might really work for me.  So here I am.