Beate Wright:
CLASS OF 1983
Naperville Central High SchoolClass of 1983
Naperville, IL
University of Illinois - Liberal Arts & SciencesClass of 1987
Urbana, IL
Beate's Story
Life --
I guess all those practice essays in High School English class do come in handy when trying to sum up 20+ years in 4000 characters or less!
Knowing my tendency to ramble, those of you looking for the mini-version should just go to the summation at the bottom.
For the rest of whoever is looking, here it goes: Went to college (U of I, Urbana) like so many others from the Chicago suburbs. Met many interesting people, had fun adventures and experiences and a great time in general. Grew up a little bit. Met hubby. Got job(s). Moved. Moved again. Moved again and again and again. 8 addresses in 5 years at one point! (I know the post office "change of address" form by heart!) Even with all the moving, we managed to put together a household that included horses, cats, dogs, pet rats, and even a flock of pigeons at one point, and dozens of houseplants (moving is NOT easy with a load like that!). And we always make new friends along the way.
I "retired" from the formal work world of Hotel Sales & Marketing and Small Business Consulting in 2002 to take care of our 8 acres of run-down New England farm. I had marginal success in my Fruit & Vegetable Stand and attempted to develop the growth of the equine sport Team Penning in the area by putting on Penning events.
We stayed in RI for 10 years (a record for the same address for both my husband and me) and I enjoyed all the farm work and the good times with friends/neighbors. Several years after moving to RI our number one hobby (penning) came to a total standstill for various reasons and hubby's job went into business travel overdrive. This left me time to get a "real" job at Enterprise Rent-A-Car and I left that only because we moved for hubby's job (again? yes, it's kind of a theme in our lives). The move's been great so far and the adventure continues!
I consider myself extremely lucky to have a husband who has stayed with me during many changes in our lives and that enjoys the same goals as I do. He is totally my Partner: in Life, in goals (looking forward to retiring in a more southern state some day...), in world views (we both get totally pissed off at bad drivers and we both relish the Darwin Awards for instance), and even in Team Penning!
I am also blessed every day by what I call "Fur Therapy". With fuzzy animals around all day, one can't help but feel good.
All in all: suburbanite import from Germany goes to college, leads the most "normal" life of marriage, pets, and professional 9-5 job all over the eastern half of the country, enjoys a stint at being a deliriously happy, manure-shoveling cowgirl, and finally blends it all into having her horses on a small farm in the middle of a Chesapeake Bay area neighborhood. The current Life Motto is: It's All Good.
So, how you doin'?
Signed,
B
School
What's to say. It was High School. Some kids love it, some hate it. I would have slit my wrists on a regular basis if it hadn't been for a number of good girlfriends and a number of great classmates that made even the most unbearable moments tolerable.
Sara, Geri, Tricia, Kathy, Mary, and Jacqui probably held me sane the most. And then there are the special people like "Smiley" Gallagher or even Leslie, Terri, and Cathy and many others whom I might see just in a class or in a hallway but that always made the day better.
I'm glad I had the opportunity to learn - most of my teachers were good and some even downright "cool" and I guess I'll always be a "geek" since I liked studying. I still don't see the reason behind the torture of Physical Education but that's probably because, though I now live a very physically active life again, I still have no coordination and generally only participate in sports where one throws something AWAY from you and where beer drinking is encouraged: bowling, darts, horse shoes, bocche.
Never regretted not going to all the dances and functions - those events were for the "popular crowd" and they're welcome to them.
Biggest regret: Wish I had been more confident.
Biggest mistake: joning track (sorry I wasted the coach's and everyone's time).
Fondest memories: girl-friends and boy-friends. And, graduating and getting the h--- out of there!
College
U of I - Urbana, IL! Nice place to learn and play! Who knew that the middle of cornfields could have such a wonderful mix of interesting, multi-cultural, unique, open-minded people! Oh yeah and then there were the "greeks".
I went for Political Sciance ...Expand for more
and got highly disillusioned and discouraged by the time I was working on Congressman Simon's campaign. So, over to foreign language we go but with a twist: French Commercial Studies. If I recall correctly, I was trained to be working in international companies translating import/export documents.
The best part was The French House (La Maison Francaise - or Lambda Mu Phi for those of us living across from the Alpha Ki's. ; )
Never wanting to be average, the Maison was the most perfect "family" to find. Good friends. Amazingly accepting souls. Intellectual non-conformists. And the parties were always awesome! Long conversations into the night. Going to study overseas with some of them. Wrestling with growing up, facing the world and always having a friend to turn to at this "home" away from home.
They even thought my pet rat was cool! You've go to love people like that.
I loved working at Garcia's Pizza - the coolest work-place on campus with jeans shirts and bandanas and the best pizza ever. Cool co-workers and good tips (I was the only female delivery driver in town at the time and the tips paid the rent!)
I loved hanging out in the FLB or near any source of heat during the nasty, cold winters. The all-night coffee house was the best! At least it was someplace to hang out after late night pizza delivery shifts until I got introduced to fishing by a co-worker. Then it was just a matter of grabbing the poles, some donuts, and heading for the nearest fishing hole (actually Lake Shelbyville) by dawn.
After coming back from studying in France Junior year, I lost some of my motivation but managed to hang on long enough to graudate. Then I hung out for 2 more years waiting for my husband to go through Graduate School, I got more professional jobs, got more pet rats (Zinny, Chewy Beeblebrox, and Nikki), got married, moved away - not necessarily in that order.
Workplace
After starting my working life as a dishwasher at Colonial Ice Cream/Restaurant in Naperville, I went on to deliver pizzas in college. Making my way to Acting Manager of one of Garcia's Pizza's restaurants I switched to a job with less sausage and tomato sauce on my clothes and went into retail sales selling pre-framed art at a store in the mall while waiting for my husband to go through Grad School. Luckily they were able to transfer me to a store in Detroit when we moved to Michigan for my husband's career and I managed their largest retail store in the nationwide chain until total retail burn-out hit me. With encouragement from my husband I found a home in hotel Sales & Marketing. Throughout a number of moves for my husband's career, I stayed within the industry at each new location enjoying positions as Director of Sales for a Hampton Inn ovelooking Grenfield Village & Henry Ford Museum, Catering Sales at a Hilton in Texas and finally as the Director of Sales & Marketing at the Comfort Suites - Ft. Lauderdale. By the time we moved to Near-middle-of-nowhere, Tennesse I first helped a friend start a Days Inn in the area and then went on to be a Small Business Consultant for Marketing, PR, and Special Projects for a number of businesses including setting up a drug testing lab, computerizing a tack shop, web-site set-up for a real easte agency, and a PR event for a nursing home! This type of work gave me the freedom to spend time on getting back into horses. This time I got into the Western/cowboy life and when we moved to Rhode Island my husband and I took our horses with us and had Team Penning as our number one hobby and our horse farm as a major part of my lifestyle. It's a lifestyle that is more rewardng than any paycheck I have ever earned.
However I did have the opportunity to get back into the "real" work world as an Administrative Assitant at Enterprise Rent-A-Car's administrative offices for the RI area. Best job ever! Great co-workers, cool boss, and a nice use of my skills (dealing with customers, assisting our Sales Exec's for their hard day, and using my near obsessive organizing skills). I was even able to go to networking events at Visitor Bureaus and Hospitality Associations - a milieu in which I am always comfortable! It was one of the hardest things to leave, but leave I did to end up in MD with my hubby.
We'll see what the future holds.
I almost don't miss all the bustle of networking and Chamber of Commerce events, and office management, etc. and am quite comfortable in my barn jeans and boots.
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