Shannon Speier:
CLASS OF 1976
Eureka High SchoolClass of 1976
Eureka, CA
Shannon's Story
Living in Hawaii off and on since 1979 and presently in Hawi, Hawaii, on the Big Island has given me an aloha spirit and soul down to my quaint 1946 plantation house--formerly a foundation for a dairy and mule station in sugar cane days. ("Quaint" really means old and in constant need of repair but full of history and mana--Hawaiian spirit and energy). Most of my time and all of my heart has been in raising my kids since I was divorced in 1997 from my Chilean husband of 5 years whom I met while working as a Health Extensionist in the Peace Corps in Paraguay from 1991-1992. I've been fortunate to support my kids and my travel/swim/hike "habit" with various jobs for the past 20 years within the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort where I now hold the "high and mighty" position of Lagoon Spoon counter attendant for 6 hours a day serving breakfast from a cereal bar with an "office" vista of the ocean, lagoon, and beach and have for the past 2 years. Truthfully, if I'm going to work, I need fresh air in an outdoor environment, a pond, river, lake, or ocean to swim in, and people to laugh and smile with to be able to survive happily day-to-day.
Graduating from Humboldt in 1990 with a degree in International Travel and Communication and double minor in Linguistics and Recreation and special emphasis in Spanish and a TESL certificate qualified me for ...a lotta things but nada that really interested me. After attending 6 colleges after high school in 14 years, an independant major was the only way I could get a degree from Humboldt in 1990 that included credits from (among others) Photography, Massage, and Gymnastics at San Diego State, Scuba and Outdoor Education at Univ. of New Hampshire, Ice Skating and Drawing on the Left Side of the Bra...Expand for more
in at Anchorage Community College, WSI and Tourism Principles at Univ. of Alaska, and an AA from College of the Redwoods, and credits from HSU diving team (fun at age 30) and various Forestry, Recreation, and TESL classes.
Between 1976 EHS graduation and a 1990 HSU B.A. degree, I had spent time living in and traveling to about 50 countries to explore on my own and learn different languages and cultures firsthand in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, Canada, Central America, Europe, and 40 states. My favorite jobs have been in the most remote and outlying areas: Lifeguard and Naturalist at Assateague Island National Seashore in Virginia, Backcountry Ranger at Olympic National Park in Washington, Park Aid and Naturalist at Patrick's Point and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks, Northern Calif., and Health, Safety, and Swim Instructor on the Alaskan Peninsula where a bush pilot drops you off in the middle of nowhere and you have to have a compass and a good nose to find the village. After explaining those experiences to the Peace Corps recruiter at HSU, my application to the Peace Corps was accepted (after being rejected 2 times in previous years) and I was (and always am) ready to go travelling again and speak Spanish (or whatever language I need).
At the moment (summer 2011), both daughters live with their dad and go to Weaverville High School, and my best companion weighing in at 11 pounds packs more bark than bite and swims non-stop in the ocean with me (and at about the same speed).Alika is his name and his brother "Ipo", an African Grey parrot, talks a mean streak around all of us, including issuing commands to both cats and the dog to "get down", "sit", and "bad dog, outside."
That's the scoop from the Big Island.
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