And the award goes to...

...my mom! She won a merit award at the community college where she works. I went to the award ceremony and reception this afternoon to see her accept the award and spend some time with her. I'm so proud of her. This was a really big achievement, and she has dedicated her life to the students and faculty that she supports.

I used to work at this community college, as well, so I met up with a bunch of teachers and staff who I worked with in the past. It was really neat to catch up with everyone and see what they're doing now. I spent 6 years of my life working there, and learned so many of my skills from people there. After the reception, my old manager took me to one of the computer labs that I helped to start when I was a senior in high school. It's a lab for adults who are learning English and basic skills, such as math, reading, grammar, etc. I was amazed to see that all of the books I recorded onto tapes are still there, along with books that we pieced together from pictures brought in by students or cut out from magazines. They still use the same schedule format that I setup years ago, and have disks with templates I developed for various things in the lab. It's nice to know that you've done some things so well that they stick around for a long time.

My manager showed me the new computers, and equipment that they have. It's grown so much from when we first started it. Looking around, I was proud to have been part of that whole endeavor.I thought back to all of the wonderful students that I worked with and who taught me so much. It sort of reminded me that what I'm doing now is important, too. I may not teach anymore, but I do write and try to help people learn how to use technology. And a big part of my job is to improve the content that we write so that it's more easily translated and understood by people for whom English is a second language.