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Starting my educational journey with my birth

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I guess there really is no where else to begin with my educational journey other than my very own birth. I was very privileged to be born into the church of the Nazarene where honestly where my education has really thrived. My dad was a Nazarene pastor for over 20 years, and dedicated his life to God as well as the church. My mom has been apart of the church of the Nazarene for her entire life. This is a heritage that I am really proud of.

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Once again I think this photo really does show just how much the church of the Nazarene has been in my life. I was born into this tribe, and still remain with it to this day.

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Another Kindergarten photo but let's use this for my elementary years.

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Another Kindergarten photo but let's use this for my elementary years.

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From first grade to fifth grade I moved around a bunch! With my dad being a pastor, I really wasn't sure why we moved around a lot. I know that a lot of pastors have experienced moving around a bunch. During my first grade year we still remained at Christ Community Church of the Nazarene where I attended Kings Valley Christian. This is a testament again to my Christian education. During second grade my family moved to Oklahoma where my dad became the head pastor of Lake Overholser Church of the Nazarene. We only lived there a short bit before we moved to Hawaii during my third grade year. My dad became the pastor of Kona Church of the Nazarene where he was the pastor there from my third grade year to freshman year of highschool. These are the formative years that I start remembering. From third grade to fifth grade I went to holualoa elementary school. This was a little bit of a culture shock for myself. I distinctly remember being one of the only white kids in my class. This was a theme that would come back in high school.

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a picture of my family my brother and his wife on the right. My mom and dad on the left. 

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For some crazy reason my mom decided to homeschool me during 6th grade. My brother went to a Marine Biology based charter school on the big island called West Hawaii Exploration Academy. My mom really wanted me to go to that school but the problem was that they didn't start till 7th grade. My mom decided to homeschool me that year. I am honestly surprised we both made it through that year. I was not a easily homeschooled child, and I remmber my mom saying "never again".

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7th grade was really unique having started going to WHEA (West Hawaii Exploration Academy). This school was entirely project based, I had never experienced anything like it either. It was a really unique opportunity, and one of the few times I have thrived in a school.

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8th Grade was fun we were all dorky middle schoolers who were still going to WHEA. I remember this was one of the first public school experiences I ever had and did really well in it.

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Jumping to Sophomore year of highschool. My parents decided to go back to Christ Community church of the Nazarene in Concord, CA. I was enrolled in Berean Christian High School. It's funny because having been a christian my whole life and a pastors kid I really thought I was going to thrive at this school. I struggled to fit in a lot, and ended up being bullied constantly that year for the culture shock of moving from Hawaii to California. The two cultures were just so different. I would definitely say that I did not see that coming.

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Football became an escape for me from the bullying at school. I really enjoyed playing and got as big as possible and sort of wanted to use it as a anger management almost. I became pretty good but focused way too much on football rather than academia.

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Senior year was really rough, we got a new football coach who turned out to be very abusive. This was not the best year for me personally. My dad's first round of chemo was this year, and having to deal with a football coach who was just flat out a jerk was not helpful for my academics. Overall highschool was a time I wish I could have tried harder at. I really wish my teachers hadn't set me up to fail the way that they did.

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After high school I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I had really only stuck in school because of football, and didn't thrive academically at all. I was told I wasn't college material from the get go so I never thought that it was an option if I am being honest. So I took a gap year just to have fun. I met my best friend that gap year and realized that I had a calling to ministry. I was also missing football a lot so I started training again. I then did what I thought was impossible by getting into George Fox University. That year was very rough for me though. My dad ended up passing away from cancer and it really shook up the confidence that I had built to that point.

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After my dad passed away Brent Kall took me in for a summer internship. He housed me and gave me a place to stay, and really became a father figure in my life. It was amazing if I am being honest. It really felt like the first time anyone believed in me other than my parents. This was a game changer. After that experience and my dad passing away I really wanted to move down to be closer to family and brent was family. So I transfered to point loma! While I didn't stay there long, Point Loma was very good to me.

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I went to ENC from then on and went on to graduate

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I ended up graduating from Eastern Nazarene College. ENC was a very special place to me. It is where I had found my first friend group since middle school, and it really inspired me to get into higher education.