Jen Curlett:
CLASS OF 1991
Bellingham High SchoolClass of 1991
Bellingham, WA
Lake Washington Vocational Technical InstituteClass of 1998
Kirkland, WA
Whatcom Community CollegeClass of 1996
Bellingham, WA
Bellingham Technical CollegeClass of 1993
Bellingham, WA
Jen's Story
Life
I am married (since 2002), with one child, Andrew James (A.J.) born Feb 22, 2006. I work full/time as the lead dental hygienist at Interfaith Community Health Center, where I have worked for 9 years, which I absolutely love! I feel very lucky to be in a career where I get to help people in our community and make a good living while having fun all day! We've lived in our house off of Barkley Boulevard (in Bellingham) since 2001. We have one dog, he is 2 years old, a Welsh Pembroke Corgi named Toby. For the past 10 years, I've traveled quite a bit, mainly Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, and around the U.S. My husband and I met on a blind date in 1999, the year after I graduated from dental school and moved back up to B'ham from Seattle. I was going through a divorce at the time from my 1st husband (also my high school boyfriend...but did not go to school with us). My husband, Jim, is a Superintendent for Callen Construction. He had his own company (Cedarside DirtWorks) for the past 4 years, but got out of it after struggling with balancing family life and a demanding career (post-baby). My favorite things to do are spend time with my husband and son, read, travel, hang out with friends, and work around the house, either outside gardening/landscaping (I do the gardening, Jim does the landscaping), or inside either decorating or remodeling our house. I also work out regularly (finally getting back to that after baby!), but I can't say it's my favorite thing to do, just a necessity (for mind and body!) I have never loved sports (except tennis, which I played in high school), but having a boy whose favorite thing to do is kick or throw a ball, I see myself becoming more of a sportsfan. I have had many ups and downs since high school (more ups than downs, for sure!), but honestly wouldn't change a thing if I could. Every experience helped me grow and become who I am today. After having my first child (we are planning on 1 more in the near future..hopefully!), I do wonder why I waited so long, but I wasn't ready for parenthhood any sooner. Having grown up without a mother (mine passed away when I was 4), I was unsure of my abilities and scared that I may not be around for my child. After lots of counseling and meeting/falling in love with my husband, who lost his dad when he was a newborn and could totally relate, I came to the conclusion that I very much wanted to become a mother, and am enjoyi...Expand for more
ng every bit of it. I have evolved into a very strong,outgoing and open person, which I wish I would have been more like in high school. I had much more fun in college, I felt like I could be myself, let my guard down, and let people get to know me better. I can't believe it has been 16 years since I graduated high school, but on the other hand, it feels like several lifetimes ago.
Workplace
I was working at Albertson's my junior and senior years of high school....I quit that job to work at Walton Beverage as a receptionist for 6 months while I was waiting to get into the dental assisting program at BTC. I didn't work while I went to dental assisting school (1 year), then got a 3 month maternity leave job for Dr. Mike Nelsen in Ferndale, which turned into a regular full/time offer when the dental assistant I was covering for didn't return. I was also offered 2 other full/time dental assisting jobs at the same time, deciding on a job with Dr. Terry Frere. I worked with him for 2 years, also taking night classes to get my prereq's done for dental hygiene school. I quit his office September 1995, worked (briefly) at Denny's on Meridian as a hostess, so that I could take a full load of classes each quarter to complete the prereq's. I applied for a part/time job with Interfaith Community Health Center, and got a very flexible dental assisting job where I could set my own hours, which worked well for school. March 1996, I applied to Lake Washington's Dental Hygiene Program, and was accepted for September 2006. I quit work for 2 years while attending hygiene school, then stayed in Seattle for 3 months after graduation/boards to work in several offices all over the east side of Seattle as a temporary dental hygienist. I decided to move back up to Bellingham (September 1998) after getting disgusted with all the traffic down south, and was asked to come back to my old offices (working for Drs. Frere and Repanich, and at Interfaith), which I accepted. I eventually worked 3 days for Dr. Repanich and 1 day at Interfaith. One year ago, after coming back to work Post-maternity leave and finding it difficult to get time off as needed when you have a new baby, I decided to quit Dr. Repanich's office (which was extremely difficult after 8 years there as a hygienist), and work full/time at Interfaith. That is what I am currently doing, which, after 1 full year of doing it, I know was the right decision.
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