Introducing...

Hi all,
I am Renata Geurtz and I am the teacher for the Telecommunications/Networking/Web design class at Connally High School. I am very excited to be participating in this blog group. I look forward to reading the many blogs!
There are many things I would like to share with you about myself, but I'll limit myself to things you may find interesting.
First of all, I LOVE teaching! This is my 2nd year at CHS, I am fortunate to have the most AMAZING group of students.
I started my career working for Honeywell International after I completed my MBA. But after several years of crunching numbers (I was a principal financial analyst), I realized that I wanted to teach. My first teaching positing was with a private training firm where I taught business professionals to use computers. A couple years later, I accepted a program coordinator position for the Master of Business Administration program at Arizona State University. I stopped working when my first child was born, but I constantly struggled with work-family balance; I wanted to be with her and work. I was fortunate to be presented the opportunity to teach part-time. I taught an International Business class at Arizona State University for 3 semesters. Then I taught Business Computer Information Systems at Glendale Community College for 4 years.

In 2006, my husband accepted a position in Austin, Texas. While the move was emotionally difficult for me, we left my parents and my friends of more than 20 years in Phoenix, it did present other opportunities. First, we were in Texas which is by far the friendliest place I've ever visited. Next, we moved to an amazing neighborhood where we are surrounded by nature and can walk to Barton Creek. UT Austin is also here, and I immediately worked to get accepted into the doctoral program. Finally, I was motivated to get my K-12 certification and look for a teaching position in a high school - which is how I got here to my FANTASTIC students.

One of the other things that I really like to do is travel. I have been fortunate to travel to numerous places around the world. In the Summer of 2009, my children and I drove across the entire North American continent and visited all the professional football stadiums along the way (San Diego Charges, AZ Cardinals, Houston Texans, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Bucs, Miami Dolphins). Some of the places I have visited are: Hawaii, Mexico, several Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico, France, Germany, Austria, China. When I travel, I always try to learn to speak the native language - this typically embarrasses my family - but I try. I love visiting beaches and through my extensive travels, I have created a sand collection. Whenever, I visit a beach, I scoop up some sand and bring it home. Over the years, my collection has grown to over 30 sand samples. What is amazing about collecting sand, is that you assume all sand is the same, but, in fact, every beach has unique sand!