User:Brendurden

I have had two professional pursuits throughout my life: music and teaching. I starting playing piano at the age of 3 and became a church organist at the age of 15. I completed a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in organ/piano performance and I received a performance certificate from the Royal School of Church Music in England where I studied for a summer. I won many competitions and made a few recordings. However, my dreams of concertizing were put on hold when I developed tendinitis and had to think of a new career. My other passion is education which you can say I was born into. Both my mother and father were teachers and both my older sister and brother are involved in teaching. I went back to school and received my multiple subject credential. I have taught school over the last twenty years in three different states (California, Washington and Alaska). All of the schools were in challenging locations from gang areas in California, to a reservation in Washington, to a military base in Alaska and most recently back to Seattle.

I truly am a fan of lifelong learning. I enjoy bettering myself in both of my professional pursuits. I still occasionally take piano and organ lessons and play for concerts with my friends in other states and in my community. In education, I have taught for the University of Phoenix for four years and I just started my doctorate in E-Learning from Northcentral University.

My husband joined the Coast Guard full time after 9-11 so we move every few years to a new location. This has presented a few challenges in both of my professional pursuits and my home life.

I live at home with my husband, two teenagers, 6 sled dogs and one cat. My hobbies include cooking, hiking, and watching my dogs mush.