Shawn Weaver:
CLASS OF 1973
Grant High SchoolClass of 1973
Portland, OR
Shawn's Story
After graduation I attended San Jose Bible College in California and got a BA in Christian Education. I taught for several years in Christian schools. I met my husband on a blind date and we got married 6 months after we met. We will celebrate our 30th anniversary in April. After a year and a half of marriage we found out we could not have children. Then after attending Oregon State University for a year and a half I graduated with highest honors with a BA in Elementary Education and a Math Endorsement. We moved to Eastern Washington where I taught for 2 years before we moved to McMinnville, Oregon. One day we had a knock on the door and a woman told us that some friends of ours had recommended us to host exchange students. In total we hosted 13 girls and 3 of them are true daughters to us. We have attended their weddings and visited them overseas. We have been to Belgium 6 times and to Slovakia 7 times. We have a large, extended family in both countries. I grew up overseas until my dad retired when I was 12 but my husband had never been out of the U.S. We have traveled to many places in the past 29 years.
A new chapter in my life began in 2005 when I discovered I had artistic talent. I began painting and in 5 years completed 80 paintings. I am an experimentalist which means I try anything that pops into my head. My paintings have been accepted to many juried shows and I have won some awards for my work. Then in 2008 I began photography and again have had my photos accepted in many juried shows and have won some awards for them. I love to take close up photos of flowers, nature, and wildlife. I don't do portraits.
In 2010 I took a workshop in Boise, Idaho that touched my life deeply. It was a workshop o...Expand for more
n Oral Bible Storytelling called "Simply the Story". I have since assisted at a workshop in the Portland area and in August 2012 I had the opportunity to go to Kigoma, Tanzania in East Africa to teach Oral Bible Storytelling at a Bible College for 3 weeks. What an amazing group of 22 men. Each of them holds a special place in my heart. I was also able to teach art to kindergarteners and first graders at a primary school. I was able to go to the Jane Goodall Chimp Reserve and photograph chimpanzees and baboons in their natural habitat. I also had the wonderful experience of going on safari to a remote national park that only gets about 200 visitors a year. I photographed a pride of 8 lions, elephants, girafees, water buffalo, hippos, crocodiles, impalas, kudu, and several other types of wildlife. I took over 4,000 photos during the 5 weeks I was in Tanzania. In November 2013 I will have a display of about 20 photos I took of the wildlife while on safari. I will display at a local restaurant in Albany. I have displayed pieces of my artwork there several times. My goal is to someday have my photos on display in an art gallery but for now I am just having a blast taking the photos.
Their have been some major challenges in my life but I won't go into those. I will say that this continuing struggle has been a blessing and has given me more compassion for others with disabilites whether physical or mental. I try to focus on the positive and my goal is to be uplifting to at least one person each day.
In high school I was quiet and shy and a "nerd". I have come out of that shell and I am happy with who I have become and the person God has created me to be. I wouldn't trade any part of my life since high school.
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