- Jessi Lazar's Introductory Letter -

My name is Jessi Lazar and I am from Vista, California. I have been fortunate to still live in the same house I grew up in. The first school I attended was a private Christian school in Vista called Memorial Christian. For 2^nd grade my parents decided to switch me to a public education setting. I finished the rest of my elementary education at Beaumont. I then attended Lincoln middle school, also in Vista. For high school I received my education at Rancho Buena Vista. After high school I started taking classes at Palomar College. I currently have 3 Associate Arts degrees (Liberal Studies, Arts and Humanities, and American Sign Language) I as well completed the two year American Sign Language – English - Interpreter Training Program. This is my first year at CSUSM and I am excited to start my educational journey in the ICP.

I feel extremely comfortable using computers. I feel that I am fairly tech savy. My generation has always used computers or other technical devices. I love learning about new technology because I feel if you don’t keep up with it you can quickly fall out of the loop. I am an administrative assistant for a construction company and I am always using the computer (Excel, Word, Adobe, web research, etc…). I am excited to take this class and expand my knowledge/skill with technology so that it will help me as well as future students of mine.

To be completely honest I hadn’t read the mission statement until just now! I think it is actually very impressive. I have always been a firm believer in long term education. I think everyone always has something to learn and should never end the pursuit of expanding our minds. There are a lot of topics that the public school systems could benefit from by this mission statement. I am thankful that CSUSM is committed to forming professional, thoughtful, diverse, well rounded teachers of our future. If all public school educators followed CSUSM mission statement alone, our school systems would see mass improvement.