Sheri Lochner:  

Hi Everyone I was with a couple of friends last week and they were talking about their high school reunions and how they were looking forward to them....and that got me thinking. It's been 30 years since I graduated from high school. That was an oh my gawd! moment. And so that has been the motivation for this search on classmates. My story goes like this....after I graduated I went to UCLA - it took me five years to graduate because I couldn't work out what to major in. I finally settled on a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology (study of movement of the human body). I was a member of the UCLA Women's Crew team and rowed at places around the state. Then to keep fit in between I started doing triathalons before they became trendy and popular. When I graduated I had a massive student debt and couldn't face the prospect of graduate school or working. So I joined the Peace Corps and worked as a sciene and English as a second language teacher in Kiribati. Yes, it is a country right on the equator - a series of coral atolls. I lived on the island of Abaiang and worked at the Catholic secondary boarding school run by I-Kiribati nuns and brothers. It was a fantastic time and I learned the language - Gilbertese and never once had the urge to convert to Catholicism or any other form of Christianity or Mormonism - which was just spreading itself into the Pacific. Then...in 1987, when it was time for me to return to the US....I just couldn't face returning - I went to Australia and fell in love. I had to return to the states because my visa ran out. So I returned to living with Wayne and Lorna (my wonderful, supportive parents!) for the year. I got a job teaching at a school for emotionally disturbed kids in Pasadena and of course I saved so much money from such a well paid job (NOT!). So I went to Alaska where a good friend was living and working in a small town called Dillingham. I worked there for the summer of 1988 and made a handy packet of money to fund my return trip to Australia. I met up with my boyfriend and off we travelled in a VW campervan around Australia. Then we settled back in Fremantle, Western Australia where he was from. I lived and worked there until 1997 when we moved to Kalgoorlie also in WA. While in Perth/Fremantle I did a variety of teaching jobs - worked at a special education school for kids with severe intellectual disability, taught Adult Literacy classes for adults with intellectual and learning disabilities, ran Adult Literacy classes for unemployed job seekers and had a fun job being an 'agent provacateur' or as the Head of the Technical College said - a pain in the arse! I was the person responsible for implemeting policy and programs to increase access for people with disabilities. It was such a great job being a thorn in their side. But...there were other places to go - things to do. So we got teaching jobs at Kalgoorlie School of the Air (google it to find out more). That was such a f...Expand for more