My Story
While I can't say I was born here, I can say that our valley is my home. My parents were High School Sweethearts at Naches Valley High School, and after some time moving around due to my father's Air Force career, we came right back. I grew up in Naches and graduated from the same high school as my parents.
I attended Washington State University, and its there that I met my now wife, Sierra, as a freshman joining the same community service club. Together we moved around a bit, pursuing Master's Degrees in Spokane, early careers and parenthood in Kennewick, then finally coming back home to settle in Zillah.
Sierra and I are blessed with two daughters and two sons, ages from 7 to 3. It is a wild and energetic house, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Me as a Public Servant
I have, for most all my life, been dedicated to public service. When I was in high school, I became a Youth Ambassador for the Naches Valley Community Coalition where we worked to decrease use of alcohol in our schools. I became Chair of the Youth for Community Growth in Yakima, and sat on the board for the Yakima Valley Systems of Care which was working on implementing wrap around services and other programs in the county.
In college, I became President of the most successful student-ran volunteer org on campus, our team completing an estimated 2500 volunteer hours in a single year.
As an adult, I spent two full years as an AmeriCorps, which is essentially Peace Corps, but on US soil, working full time for less than minimum wage to do work for public agencies that otherwise couldn't be done. I have also been a commissioner and now Chair of the Kennewick Housing Authority for 5 years, working on low income housing in the Tri-Cities area.
And now, after all of that, I will continue to serve my community at every opportunity. Whether it be in Olympia as representative or with my son's new Scouts pack, there will always be good work to be done.
Professional Background
I started my educational journey in Yakima at Yakima Valley Community College, where I received my AA. From there, I attended Washington State University where I obtained a Bachelors in Psychology, then finally continued on to Eastern Washington University where I received a Masters in Public Administration.
I worked full time through nearly all of my college career, and continued on to build experience by working first for the Spokane chapter of the American Red Cross as a disaster preparedness coordinator. There I organized and taught education programs across much of Eastern Washington, as well as worked with and coordinated volunteers across many programs.
From there, I went to work for the City of Hermiston as Main Street Program Coordinator, where I worked between the city and local business owners to help organize their programs and events.