My last name is Irish Gaelic, which means it's hard to pronounce. Aisling is pronounced, "ASH-ling." I was born in Massachusetts but lived in Southern California from the age of 8 until I graduated from my first college - Harvey Mudd (no, not Harvard Med), which is a small engineering school in Claremont. My degree was a B.S. in Engineering, which means I learned the basics of most of the different branches of engineering (chemical, electrical, mechanical, computer, etc.). I enjoyed chemical engineering the most, probably because I had a fantastic chemistry teacher in high school. After moving to Seattle, therefore, I enrolled at the University of Washington and earned my second Bachelor's degree. I also started playing amateur baseball again, pitching for the Bears in Seattle's MSBL League. After being accepted to U.C. Berkeley's PhD Program in Chemical Engineering, I moved to Northern California. However, I left the program after my first year, when I decided that 5 more years of school before starting my career was too much.
Shortly after leaving school, I accepted a job at the Clorox Technical Center in Pleasanton, California. I spent my first two years at Clorox in the Kingsford Division, developing a lower emissions Matchlight charcoal. I then moved to the Home Care Division for a year and a half, working on products such as Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and SOS Sponges. I continued to play baseball in an unaffiliated league in San Francisco. I also discovered a passion for mountaineering, when I climbed my first Cascade Volcano - Mt. Shasta - in 1997.
Realizing that I wouldn't be able to buy a house in the Bay Area on a chemical engineer's salary, I accepted a process development position at Paragon Trade Brands, a store brand baby diaper manufacturer located in Norcross, Georgia (I also didn't realize that chemical engineers made diapers). After about a year in the Atlanta area, I began to have second thoughts about my chosen career. While I was good at what I did, and I earned a comfortable living, I simply had no passion for the work. I also found it increasingly difficult to justify working to make a small number of people more wealthy (often at the expense of others or the environment). The companies that I worked for weren't even particularly bad in this regard; it's just that everyone's purpose was ultimately to deliver a bigger profit.
Realizing that I wouldn't be able to buy a house in the Bay Area on a chemical engineer's salary, I accepted a process development position at Paragon Trade Brands, a store brand baby diaper manufacturer located in Norcross, Georgia (I also didn't realize that chemical engineers made diapers). After about a year in the Atlanta area, I began to have second thoughts about my chosen career. While I was good at what I did, and I earned a comfortable living, I simply had no passion for the work. I also found it increasingly difficult to justify working to make a small number of people more wealthy (often at the expense of others or the environment). The companies that I worked for weren't even particularly bad in this regard; it's just that everyone's purpose was ultimately to deliver a bigger profit.
Without really knowing what was required, I decided to switch careers and become a mountaineering instructor for Outward Bound. However, I still had over a year left to fulfill my contract with Paragon. I also found out that to be an Outward Bound instructor, I needed to be proficient at multi-pitch rock climbing. The only problem with that is that I had never rock climbed. So I went to a local climbing gym to learn the basics, and then I started taking outdoor rock climbing courses to build up my skills. I also decided to spend my two weeks of vacation that summer volunteering in Outward Bound's base camp in Mazama, Washington. Shortly after I made that decision, however, Paragaon was bought out by a mega-conglomerate (Tyco), who promptly closed our facility in Norcross and laid off 90% of the staff. I was offered a position in Philadelphia, but I declined, telling the new owners to lay me off with everyone else. Suddenly, I was free from my contract, with a 9-month severance package. Rather than volunteering for only two weeks, I could now spend the entire summer in Mazama. So I packed up all of my possessions into my Jetta (selling or giving away anything that wouldn't fit) and drove back to Washington. Along the way, I climbed Mt. Whitney in the Sierras.
In addition to building up my skills, in order to become a mountaineering instructor with Outward Bound, I needed more experience with adolescents. So after spending the summer of 2002 volunteering in logistics at the Mazama base camp (and the fall living in Japan), I moved to Bellingham and started volunteering at a small alternative high school called Explorations Academy. At first I helped organize and supervise their field trips, but after two weeks they gave me a chance to teach a few lessons in the classroom. I was immediately hooked, and I thought, "Oh, this is what I'm supposed to be doing for the other 9 months of the year!" Soon thereafter, their math teacher had to leave the school, and I took her place full time in the classroom. I was happier than I'd ever been. I also came to realize that by removing money from the equation, I (accidentally) discovered my true calling. At least for the forseeable future, I was meant to be a teacher.
After instructing Explorations' end-of-the-year backpacking trip in the Pasayten Wilderness, I returned to Mazama for another summer working in logistics for Outward Bound. By climbing in my off time with many of the instructors there, I really began to hone my technical skills. I also added Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Baker to my list of Cascade Volcano ascents. After backpacking in Europe during the fall, I spent the winter and spring in Winthrop, Washington, taking care of horses in exchange for lodging. Luckily it was straightforward work, because my knowledge of horses was laughable (as evidenced by my not realizing for the first two months that one of the horses was actually a mule). Winter in the Methow Valley can be quite lonely, so I participated in the community by learning to play ice hockey and volunteering at the Methow Valley Community School in Twisp. I also spent countless hours studying for the GRE and applying to the teaching program at Western Washington University. In the spring, I worked as a substitute teacher at Liberty Bell High School, where I also volunteered as the baseball team's pitching coach.
In May of 2004 I moved back into the Mazama base camp for my third season, this time as the Head Logistics Coordinator. I continued to climb with many of the instructors, and I sought out increasingly more challenging summits. That summer, I made a solo ascent of Mt. Hood and began to make plans for my first international expedition. After being accepted to Western's teaching program, I moved back to Bellingham in the fall and became a student again (I would now be entering the 20th grade). During winter break, I made a solo ascent of Pico de Orizaba (18,491 ft), cresting the summit ridge at first light on Winter Solstice. I then recuperated in Oaxaca, until a bad mole dish wouldn't stay down and kept me isolated in my hotel room for several days.
After my first year at WWU, I returned to Outward Bound to complete my New Instructor Training. Because of some scheduling snafus, however, I did not instruct a course that summer. Instead, I lived in Sitka, Alaska and drove a taxi cab for a living until school started again in the fall. During my second year at Western, I began guiding Mt. Baker trips for the university's Outdoor Center. I also taught a Physics of Light and Sound class as an adjunct faculty member at Explorations Academy and led a patrol on their end-of-the-year backpacking trip, this time on the Olympic Peninsula Coast . And finally, that summer, I fulfilled my dream of working as an instructor for Outward Bound, facilitating two courses and spending about three weeks teaching students in the wilderness. Because I wanted a second teaching endorsement, I returned to Western for a third year (most students finish in two) in the fall, completing my student teaching in chemistry (at Sehome High School) and earning my Master's degree in the summer of 2007. I learned from some phenomenal professors while at WWU and felt well prepared to start my first teaching job in a public high school. Due to Western's presence, however, the teacher market in Bellingham was completely saturated, so I would have to wait a bit longer.
While waiting for more teaching jobs to open in Bellingham, I accepted a job as a lead clinician at FEAT of Washington, a non-profit organization that helps students with autism increase their independence and self-determination. My primary responsibility was to design and facilitate curriculum to better integrate students into the community. Working at FEAT was a humbling and rewarding experience. Ultimately, however, the 90-minute commute from Bellingham to Seattle was too much for me, so when Sehome called to offer me a long-term leave replacement job as a math teacher for the second semester, I decided to accept. That May, I also trained for and ran the Vancouver Marathon, finishing in just over 4 hours. After a hiatus of 8 years, I also made a return to amateur baseball, playing for the Dodgers in the Northwest Washington Baseball League in Bellingham. I found balancing two of my passions quite difficult, as both baseball season and the Outward Bound season overlap in the summer. In the last game of the year (a playoff game that we lost), I tore the rotator cuff of my glove arm while diving for a fly ball. In the fall of 2008, I enjoyed reconstructive shoulder surgery and a painful rehabilitation process that would continue through the spring of 2009.
While rehabbing from surgery, I accepted a one-year position in Ferndale teaching math at Clearview, an alternative high school serving at-risk teenagers. I also ran their Extended Day Program, which allowed students who couldn't attend day school to earn their diplomas through independent study. Unfortunately, the Ferndale School District made significant teacher cuts for the next academic year, eliminating my position entirely. I did, however, successfully recover from my shoulder surgery, and I was able to return to both baseball and Outward Bound in the summer. I was also promoted to Lead Instructor after completing the training and mentored my first new instructor on a mountaineering course. Without a full-time teaching job, in the fall I worked again as a substitute in the Beilingham School District. I also devoted considerable time to tutoring, something I had done off and on since I was a student at the University of Washington. I did, however, take time off to complete a 31-day road trip in my Vanagon, spending Thanksgiving climbing with other Outward Bound instructors at Red Rocks in Nevada and visiting friends all over the West Coast (southern Utah, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Chico, and Portland) until Christmas.
2010 turned out to be a landmark year. Not only did I begin dating my future wife, Mindy, but I also landed my first continuing teaching contract at Port Angeles High School. In addition, I hit my first grand slam and put down my first successful sacrifice bunt in my final baseball season with the Dodgers. Bidding farewell to our community in Bellingham, Mindy and I and her son, Noah, moved to Port Angeles in early August. In my first year at PAHS, I taught chemistry and math, but taught only chemistry thereafter. In July of 2011, I summited Mt. Rainier with my friend, Alex. Then later in the month, Mindy and I were married in an unconventional wedding where our friends and family all wore costumes. After instructing an Outward Bound course in August, I returned to the classroom and developed an Honors Chemistry course for students who were ready for more advanced study.
Because the Outward Bound base camp in Mazama closed for a season, 2012 turned out to be a very busy climbing year (although not a successful one in terms of summits). Together, Mindy and I made attempts on Mt. Adams (thwarted by white-out conditions), Glacier Peak (massive snow pack turned a 2-day approach into 4 days), Mt. Rainier (turned around at 12,000 ft due to sickness), and Broken Top (skipped the last 200 ft when it started raining). We finally managed to get to the top of a mountain that summer when we climbed South Sister by the Green Lakes approach, arriving at the summit at the uncomfortably late hour of 6 pm. One for five, but we had a lot of fun! We also fell in love with Bend, Oregon for the first time, which would become pertinent in the not-so-distant future.
At the end of the climbing season, we traveled to Juneau, Alaska for a family reunion and fished in the annual Salmon Derby. I also attempted the push-up challenge that year - you start with one push-up on January 1st, do two on January 2nd, and so on, so that on December 31st you need to complete 365 push-ups (or 366 that year because 2012 was a leap year). Unfortunately, I had to drop out on Day 279 when I strained a pectoral muscle. I did, however, get to do push-ups in some odd places (on fishing boats, on the tops of mountains, in front of showgirls on the Las Vegas strip, on Paul Bunyan's shoe in the California Redwoods, etc.).
I found the 2012-13 school year in Port Angeles to be much easier, since for the first time I taught the exact same classes (Honors and Regular Chemistry). Due to an amazing fundraising effort, Mazama's base camp was reopened in early 2013. However, I took the season off as on Outward Bound instructor because I would be piloting PAHS's first AP Chemistry course in the fall. I spent the first part of the summer attending an AP Institute training and the last month developing the new class. The middle of the summer, however, was still open to personal climbing, and Mindy and I had a very successful season. We were 4 for 4, making ascents of Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt. Adams, and Mt. McLoughlin (this last one being Noah's first Cascade Volcano).
Back in Port Angeles, it was like being a new teacher all over again. In addition to re-designing the Regular Chemistry course (to align with the University of Washington in the High School Program), I had the daunting task of executing my first AP class. Designing the AP Chemistry class was a lot like throwing down train tracks in front of the approaching train, primarily because I needed to practice and write the instructions for 16 college-level chemistry labs. Luckily, I had a fantastic group of students for the pilot class. All of them passed the AP Exam, with an average score of 4.25 out of 5. And getting to work with the same motivated students for a second year was especially rewarding. In 2013 I also completed the sit-up challenge, which works the same way as the push-up challenge (but is much easier because it's sit-ups). I actually completed the challenge in Bend, where we spent the last few days of the year vacationing. We also looked at the city from a different perspective, this time as a place to live, visiting several potential schools and neighborhoods. On New Year's Day, our resolution was that we would move to Bend in 18 months.
With the initial design of AP Chemistry behind me, I was able to return to the field with Outward Bound in the 2014 summer season. Mindy and I made another attempt on Rainier with some of our Bellingham friends, but we didn't get any further than the parking lot this time because of incessant rain. Instead, our group drove to the Entiat Mountains to the northeast, hoping that we'd escape the rain by crossing into Eastern Washington. We didn't, so we ended up aborting climbs on both Seven Fingered Jack and Mt. Maude. But at least we spent a few adventurous days with our friends in the wilderness! Mindy and I also visited Bend again around the 4th of July, "climbing" Mt. Bachelor and cragging at Smith Rock.
The 2014-15 school year promised to be a good one. All of my classes would be the same as the previous year, and this year's AP Chemistry cohort would be over twice as big as last year's. Then on October 11th, my life changed in a heartbeat. While we were driving to a local pumpkin patch, a distracted driver in a pick-up truck crossed the center divide and hit us head-on. Both vehicles were traveling at about 50 mph, and our car (a Prius) was knocked backwards 11 feet. We have no memories of the collision. Mindy and Noah were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle , and I woke up at the hospital in Port Angeles a few hours later. Everything considered, we were extremely lucky. Although faced with long recoveries, all of us survived, none of us were paralyzed, and none of us had brain injuries. I'm grateful every day for modern crash technology (crumple zones and air bags) and to the first responders who saved Mindy's life. With a broken leg, I spent the next two months at home, but managed to return to the classroom a couple of weeks before winter break. In one of the more touching stories during my absence, one of my AP Chemistry students took the initiative to visit my first year classes and teach some lessons until they could find a long-term substitute.
It was time to play catch up during second semester, and my students responded well. Over spring break, Mindy and I visited Bend again, this time applying with property management companies and looking at several potential rentals. I also interviewed for teaching positions in Bend and Redmond, even teaching a lesson to a group of students at Mountain View High School as part of the process. Mindy was offered (and accepted) the manager position at a coffee shop downtown. After finally securing an apartment (sight unseen) in an intensely competitive rental market, we came back to Bend again in May, camping at La Pine State Park and leaving our Vanagon at the apartment complex for our return the next month. My second and final AP Chemistry class took their AP Exam, averaging a 3.42. Although not as high as the previous year's class, their performance was still well above the state and national averages of 2.65 and 2.62, respectively.
At the end of the school year, I packed up my classroom and said my goodbyes to Port Angeles. We then packed up the moving truck with our possessions (and two cats) and drove to our new home in Bend on Summer Solstice. After spending most of the summer floating the river, backpacking on the PCT, and climbing in the local mountains, it was time to get back to work. After tutoring and substitute teaching for the better part of two years, I accepted a full-time teaching job at Redmond High School, where I would work for six years. While at Redmond, I taught STEM Chemistry and piloted both their Honors and AP Chemistry courses, using the curriculum that I developed while at Port Angeles. In 2023 I left Redmond High and decided to transition into teaching college. I most recently taught General Chemistry at Central Oregon Community College. I'm very excited to be a part of such a vibrant community here in Central Oregon, and I'm looking forward to serving students for many years to come, both in the college classroom and online.