Dear Reader Letter

Hello, my name is Kristin Albea! I am currently a student at Everett Community College, I am going to school to get my A.A. degree so that I can go to x-ray tech school and become an ultrasound tech. I am very excited to be going back to school because I have been a stay at home mom for the past 6 years and now that my kids are in school full time, it is time for me to get a higher education. Though, the main reason why I am going back to school is because my husband will be retiring in 4 years and it will be up to me to support the family while he is changing careers.

I have a beautiful family, my husband is in the Navy and has been for the past 16 years and as I said before, he is getting ready to retire. He is a Master-At-Arms, which is a military police officer, and he loves his job and is very good at it. He wants to stay in the law enforcement field when he gets out of the military. I also have two rambunctious boys, Tanner who is 10 years and Tyler who is 7 years old; they are my pride and joy.

Before I was a stay at home mom, I was a Registered Dental Assistant and I worked for an Orthodontist, but I quit to stay at home when my oldest son was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, which is a form of Autism. He is doing well now, so it is time for me to further my education.

I am currently in English 97 and what I like best about it is the reading assignments as well as the writing. I loved the book that we had to read, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" because the book was a really good read and was very difficult to put down. I also enjoyed the writing assignments. The journal writing was great; it is easy to write when the topic is chosen for you! The Major Writing Assignments were difficult but when they were complete I felt satisfied. My strengths in the class were doing the reading assignments and the homework and of course my attendence. My weaknesses in the class were taking the quizzes because I usually don't do well on them due to the fact that I go completely blank and freeze up.

The four pieces that I chose for my E-Portfolio are my 2 Major Writing Assignments and my 2 journal pieces. I chose my paper "My Bedroom Growing Up" because I did really well on it and because writing the paper brought back a lot of great memories. My next paper that I chose was "How to Put On a Set of Braces", I really enjoyed writing this piece because I like the technicality of the description. I also got a good grade on the paper so that was a plus! My 2 journal pieces that I chose are "Your First Time" and "Educated". I chose "Your First Time" because I really think it was my best descriptive writing that I have done, even though it is a bit short. "Educated" was also one of my best works and it was one of my favorite because it tells a story. I hope you have really enjoyed my writing and have lots of fun reading!