Naomi Rowland:  

Life After graduating from THS, I attended Cal Baptist University in Riverside. I graduated CBU in May 2003 with a BA in English and minor in Journalism, and then entered the secondary teaching credential program there the next fall. However, I chose to take a break from the program to get married August 21, 2004 and move to Sicily with my husband, who was stationed in the Navy there. Not a bad place to spend our first year of marriage! I've done a lot of sightseeing and writing, and now we're in Texas living the family life. Our son was born in August and between him and going to school part time, I'm keeping pretty busy until I can start teaching next year...and then I'll be even busier! School I was so shy growing up, and in some ways I wish I could go back and do it all over SO MUCH BETTER now. But it wasn't so bad. Academics was my thing, partly because my parents didn't really want anything else to be my thing, so I always had good grades. And all of my Honors English teachers at THS helped to make me the lover of literature, research, and writing that I am today. Thanks Mr. Hansen (yearbook!!), Mrs. Wahlstrom (20 minute writings--brilliant), Ms. Teague (who first introduced me to my now favorite writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson), and even scary Mr. Richards (who wouldn't be scary at all now). College I chose to attend CBU because it was the school my church supported, and I already knew several students there. It's good that I started off with a small Christian university, because I was so shy and needed a "safe" place to stretch my wings and figure out who I was. Interestingly enough, attending a Baptist university made me realize I didn't want to be a Baptist. I'm a Christian, but I don't believe in denomination, and I'd choose God over religion any day. I probably could have transferred to a "better" school, but the classes I took for my...Expand for more