Where do you currently live?
West Valley City
Tell us about your life now, including your family, your hobbies, your occupation and any accomplishments during the last 20 years.
Gez, I feel old just typing this. *looks around for his walker*. I was recently at Cottonwood last month for my niece’s graduation, class of 2022. A couple decades after her uncle’s lol. Man it felt good to roam around the halls from 20 years ago. Anyways I’ll try and keep it short and sweet. So in 2002, I did graduate but suffered an injury that made it so I wasn’t able to walk down with my fellow classmates. One of the things I still regret being unable to attend my own graduation. After high school I decided to try the college route. I was only there for a year before I decided I wanted to pursue something else in my life. This is when I decided to marry my high school sweetheart Emily. She graduated Cottonwood in 2004 so it was nice to experience that with her. In 2006 we tied the knot and have been happily married ever since. A couple years later we decided to start our little family in 2008 and 2014. My daughter is now 13 (starting High School as a Freshman, oh my) and my son is 7. We decided that was enough after having one of each lol. This was the point in my life where I started to develop a condition known as the “dad bod”, kids really do take all the energy from you. But I love them more than anything. Career wise after high school I spent 15 years of my life working at Rc Willey. Started as a warehouse associate then moving up and ending my time there as a Senior Credit Analyst. So if your credit application was denied by me, I’m sorry it’s nothing personal ;-). In 2017 my career took a turn for the better when I was offered a position working for the State of Utah as a Technical Support Specialist II. My main role consisted of supporting the point of sale terminals and applications for the Department of Alcohol Beverage Services (formerly DABC) and their retail stores (state ran/owned liquor stores). And no, I don’t get a discount for our products, sorry lol. If you’ve ever been in one of our stores and seen the design of our point of sale terminals, that was created by yours truly. Fast forward to mid pandemic 2021, my IT Director sets up an online meeting with me and said that everyone loved working with me and they were so impressed with my skill set that he offered me a position as an IT Analyst II/DevOps role where I would be a systems administrator for both our on-prem servers and our State of Utah DABS Azure tenant. I never in my lifetime thought I would land in this role but I somehow did and this is currently where I spend my 40 hours a week. But during all of this, we do find time to do some traveling (mainly in the US), go fishing, and try to enjoy the outdoors that Utah has to offer. Moab at night is a must if you are a star gazer but ice fishing on a frozen lake that keeps crackling is a real test of your bravery lol. Overall I’m really looking forward to catching up with some old friends this weekend.
What is your favorite memory from high school?
It’s not my favorite memory but ditching school to go see my wife (girlfriend at the time) at her school, Highland High School. Then getting caught by the vice principal and ending up at the Granite truancy center. My parents were not happy with me that day. That was not fun. The things you do for love I guess lol.
What do you think your “high school self” would be most surprised to learn about you now?
I was super shy and quiet in high school and still a bit shy as an adult. But showing my kids that it’s okay to speak up and stand up for others in school goes a long way in someones life. And also having two kids. Kids are weird lol.
Are you planning to attend our 20 year reunion on July 9th?
Yes
Cottonwood HS - Class of 2002 