Why I’m here:
My name is Erik Sanders. I am getting my initial teaching certifications in general science and biology and hope to add math and other specific sciences later as I gain experience. I will be doing my student teaching at Eckstein Middle School in the Seattle school district.
Where I’ve been:
I graduated in the winter of 1997 from the University of Kentucky with a BS in Agriculture and a minor in biology. I did a summer internship with the Forest Service my Junior year at the Cle Elum Ranger District in central Washington working on various wildlife habitat rehabilitation and survey projects. After I graduated in ’97 I packed up what little I had and, against my mother’s wishes, moved to Roslyn, WA. After a month of couch surfing with friends I got a job doing spotted owl surveys in Central Washington. So began my employment/travel odyssey.
From the summer of ’98 to around 2005 I worked in Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Wyoming and even Antarctica. I’ve crawled through underbrush calling for owls, I’ve pulled baby owls out of trees with a noose, I’ve put tags in little creatures’ ears, and even flown a flying squirrel or two. I’ve taught little kids to cross-country ski during the day and ran groomers making ski trails at night. I’ve even loaded scientific equipment onto military aircraft on an antarctic ice shelf. In between all this I took time to travel around the west and to various countries around the world. From 2005 until just before classes started I worked as a carpenter/builder. A job I enjoyed and one where I learned a great many practical skills that will stay with me the rest of my life.
Here I am:
Now after a decade I find myself back in a classroom, a place I was very happy to leave in ’97. Encouragement by teacher friends and my attraction to new experiences and challenges has brought me here. Over the course of the next year I hope to learn a lot about teaching and also about myself and after it is all said and done maybe I will have found a career I enjoy and will want to do for a long time.
