Several people have asked what makes me unique as a School Board candidate. Here’s a few of them:

1. I currently have children in our School District. My daughter and son started in Big Bear Elementary and now are at Big Bear High. As a parent, I have a current perspective and first-hand knowledge of the impact our schools make on children and their families.

2. I am not retired and I am not an ex-educator. All of the other candidates running are one or the other, and many are both. My background is in business, communications and technology, which gives me a breadth of real-world experience I think will be refreshing and helpful on a well-balanced School Board.

3. I am strong in technology. I’ve bought, taught, fixed, and made technology solutions for many different organizations for many years. I understand computers, and the important role they play in preparing our children for careers after graduation. My technology expertise will helpful to our District as we increase technology proficiency among our educators and students.

It’s always better when someone else says it, and I would encourage others to talk to some of these people to see why they think I would be a good choice for School Board. I am fortunate to have a broad base of community support including:

I blame my son. His enthusiasm for reaching the heavens has been contagious. At his urging, we have recently attended several high-powered rocketry launches at the nearby Lucerne Dry Lake Bed with the Rocketry Organization of California (ROC). And if you have even a trace of testosterone in your body, you can’t help but get excited each time one of the large rockets launches skyward with a thunderous roar.

So we started building some smaller rocket kits and have worked our way up to our Tripoli Level 1 Certification, which we achieved at this month’s launch. We had to successfully build, load, launch, and recover our rocket with an “H” size engine. With this certification, we can now fly bigger engines in bigger rockets. This kind of amateur rocketry can eventually lead to scratch-built, cutting edge missiles like we saw at the BALLS 17 experimental launch in Northwestern Nevada over Fall Break. Probably an appropriate past-time for the budding astronaut in the family.

(Here’s some video of our 4″ Goblin ascending on an I-115 W.)