Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1511668
December 2023/January 2024 isea.org • ISEA Communiqué 4 BOOTS ON THE GROUND Jill Humston 1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. Although my parents met in Des Moines and both of my older siblings were born here, I was born in Omaha. and grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee. We moved back to Des Moines when I was a freshman in high school. I graduated from West Des Moines Valley High School and completed my undergraduate work in Theatre and Elementary Education at the University of Iowa. After working at a bilingual school in Barranquilla, Colombia for three years, I moved to Boston and completed my MA in Theatre Education at Emerson College. I moved back to West Des Moines and worked as an elementary teacher and local leader for West Des Moines Community Schools prior to this fellowship. 2) How did you hear about the organizing fellowship and why did you decide to apply? I learned about the fellowship through the ISEA/NEA listserv. I knew very little about the fellowship when I applied. I was exploring options outside of the classroom. With my experience as a local president during the pandemic, I was intrigued by association staff work. I applied, and the rest is history! 3) What kind of work have you been doing as part of your fellowship so far? My work with the fellowship has been quite diverse. Most of my work has been supporting the directors at ISEA. I am working of the Des Moines headquarters, so I have worked with my mentor, Rick Moore, and other Uniserv directors to support local associations with their membership drives. I have spoken at new teacher events and even at the All-Staff Welcome Back in Newton. I have represented individual members in meetings with administration and served as the primary point of contact for two districts during their recertification campaign. Through NEA, I had the opportunity to travel to St. Louis to participate in an organizing training in September, and Portland the first week of November to support the Portland Association of Teachers in their strike. 4) If you could go back and talk to that person who was about to apply for the fellowship, what would you tell past Bee will be the most challenging part? Your daily schedule will look VERY different. No two days will look the same. You might leave your house before 6 am to drive to a local, be meeting with members into the evening, or only have a few tasks to complete and be able to work from home. You will need to be comfortable with downtime and be prepared to flex your schedule when needed. 5) Same time-travel scenario as above, but now you tell the past Bee the most enjoyable part? The flexibility that makes this role challenging is also what makes it enjoyable. Many aspects of life will be a lot easier to negotiate since you are not locked into a set routine. You will also get to meet and work with some incredible people while engaging in meaningful and important work. Bee Weinberg 1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. I grew up in Iowa City, attended City High School and graduated in 1998. After high school, I attended UNI in Cedar Falls on a full-tuition scholarship for chemistry. I fancied myself a scientist and continued on to get my Ph.D in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. I had intended to work in the medical field designing drugs but found that bench work was not my passion. I enjoyed the aspect of my role in my research group assisting and teaching new members. In 2011, I started teaching at the Hudson Community School District and was there for five years before moving back to Iowa City to teach at City High when my Chemistry teacher retired – so I got to come back to my alma mater and take his position, which felt like a perfect full circle. I was actively involved in my local associations – treasurer in Hudson (worked closely with the UniServ director at the time, Shelly Staker), negotiations in both Hudson and Iowa City, a building rep in Iowa City, on the executive board and a variety of committees. 2) How did you hear about the organizing fellowship and why did you decide to apply? I decided to apply because I have spent 15 years advocating for my students. Through the association, I was able to advocate for my colleagues as a building representative. Over my career, I have shown myself to be a trusted colleague and I realized that with much of the legislative changes in Iowa recently, I could potentially be more effective advocating for all of Iowa's teachers. The fellowship provided a pathway exactly when I was most interested in making a change. 3) What kind of work have you been doing as part of your fellowship so far? I have enjoyed the privilege of learning from and collaborating with the outstanding ISEA staff, UniServ directors, and NEA trainers. The fellowship began with attendance of the Summer Leadership Conference – I felt so out of my league and clueless! Since then, I've gained confidence and I've been actively involved in the day- to-day operations alongside several UniServ directors - back-to-school events such as membership recruitment training with Jane Elerding, new teacher orientation and membership drive meetings with Jane, Shelly Staker, Kim Miller and Karla Duff. I have been attending local leadership meetings with Jane, Shelly and Toby Paone. I enjoyed the one-on-one conversations I had with teachers during the Worksite Spotlight at Tilford Elementary school in Vinton. I have engaged in problem-solving conversations with Ray Feuss and local leaders over a variety of situations. I traveled to St Louis for week-long organizing training and Portland to support the Portland Association of Teachers.. 4) If you could go back and talk to that person who was about to apply for the fellowship, what would you tell past Jill will be the most challenging part? The most difficult part for me was an adjustment to my work schedule. I have been beholden to the education schedule – multiple 50-min periods of time broken up by a bell system to tell me when my work is done – both as a student and as an educator. I never felt like I had enough time in my day. Now that I am working from home, and going into the Waterloo and Quad Cities regional offices a few times a week, I have learned an entirely different way of working – phone calls, travel time, lots of after-school meetings when teachers are available. I enjoy being "on-call" for teachers when they need an answer to a question or support for a situation. 5) Same time-travel scenario as above, but now you have to tell the past Jill the most enjoyable part? I have had somewhat of an imposter complex my whole life – constantly feeling the need to prove myself to be the best I can be in my field – whether as a research scientist or a teacher. In this new position, I already felt confident in my abilities to be an effective communicator because I have done it so often in different contexts throughout my career. I get to have meaningful conversations about issues that are important to teachers. I have also met a great group of people here in Iowa and through the program – the other fellows are from across the country and are an amazing group! Overall, the best part of this job has been the opportunity to offer valuable support to association leaders in my region. I hope to be hired full-time by ISEA as a UniServ director to continue this work permanently! Bee Weinberg Jill Humston Meet our organizing fellows