Having never done this, I am not exactly sure where to begin, so I will start at the beginning. My formal name is Karensa Hutchens, but I go by Katy and always have. Karensa just sounds too weird to me when people use it. When I was in school (by school I mean high school), I was not exactly an honor student. Hell, I wasn’t even a mediocre student. I was the non-interested, do care about what the teacher has to show me type student. I was in no way any teacher’s favorite. I didn’t even graduate from “traditional” high school. At this point I think I should point out that it wasn’t because I was stupid or didn’t get it. I just didn’t like school. I was bored, they weren’t showing me anything that I didn’t know already, and I had discovered that there was a whole world of fun outside the classroom walls. After barely graduating, I took a job at an Indian casino. The money was good, real good especially to an 18 year-old kid.

I worked at the casino for 5 years, but I knew all along that this was not the job that I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I quit and checked into college. I majored in English Lit. In the process of getting my degree I got married. He helped me to get through college by making sure that I could concentrate on my studies and only hold a part-time job.

Upon graduation, I enrolled in the credentialing program at CSUSB (I got my BA here). In the last quarter of that program I had a baby. He is wonderful, and I love him to death.

Right now I am employed at Rialto Unified School District. I teach 10th grade English. This week I am on Spring Break. I get to be home with my son 24 hours a day. I actually love it even though right at this moment he is screaming his head off and throwing toys at me because I am not paying attention to him. Every time I look up, he gives me a smile that melts my heart and I can’t remember why I was irritated. I am pretty sure that is nature’s big trick on parents.

I enrolled in the MA program in English Lit. because some of the best learning experiences of my life were getting my BA at CSUSB. It was the first time that I actually enjoyed school. I realized that I love to learn and am not done learning. As for research, I really don’t know exactly. I think I would like to look at the portrayal of women in literature or something like that.

 Well this is me. See you all in class.