Background

Professional:

Matching individual and organizational goals are an important component to developing an occupation that will be mutually beneficial to both parties. In a nation and world pressing forward with fast-paced objectives and dynamic work places, a great deal of knowledge and background experience is often expected from applicants in different occupations and fields. In an effort to attain common goals and visions for different organizations, I personally feel that responsibility and efficiency are the driving forces in today's society and economy.

Although not lengthy, my professional background is wide and diverse from opportunities I had with municipal government in Milliken, Colorado and in oil and gas with John L. Hunt, CPL & Associates. Resume will list my projects and activities, while Services & Projects will address their specifics. The nineteen month experience I had with Milliken established the framework for a projected long-term goal I established my sophomore year of college; to become a teacher at a high school or college level after acquiring a Doctorate degree. My vision is to work with different people and organizations to develop a stronger outside (academics) perspective, bringing civics to classrooms in the future.

The Milliken experience helped instill a professional acronym to my name, COP. No, this is not derived from that common road shoulder experience you may encounter. It stands for Confidence, Optimism, and Personability.

~Confidence is what steers one in the workforce to establish relations with others, accomplishing projects and enhancing an organization and one's self. With Confidence, one is willing to address a challenge with the infamous toe-to-toe analogy. Perhaps the most important component learned from Confidence is that despite accomplishment or failure, one can feel better about him/herself for approaching a challenge and always improve for the next similar situation.

~Optimism is perhaps the single greatest tool to overcoming the seemingly impossible. Viewing a process and optimally speaking enhances (self) moral and productivity to arrive near or at the objective. Of course, one has to be in-touch with reality as well, but Optimism can drive seemingly negative circumstances in a greater direction.

~Personability, a word I developed to embrace many people attributes. So many times, I recognize workplaces, transactions and different forms of customer service inefficiently relayed as a result of poor people skills. The population is continually increasing, bringing new people to industries in different capacities. As a result, there is a growing dependency on employees to not only recognize who individuals represent (with an Organization), but who they are as a person, so they can relate to them and establish a comfortable situation. This often requires mending one's personality to meet the other person halfway at a minimal.

Milliken is a small Town of approximately 6,000 people, requiring one to be hands-on in many areas, some which people are initially uncomfortable with. The ability to grow with COP allowed me to recognize a greater value to workplace and personal values which many people take for granted. Like most people, my professional interests stem from activities I enjoy or am good at. Many of these are reflective of personal and academic goals and the vision I have established to create a stronger professional, organizational and world image in my different engagements.

I have taken this attitude to oil and gas and contracted with two companies with different projects and visions. The opportunity has allowed me to not only work with people, the State of Colorado's Board of Land Commissioners, and different government entities; but also develop Title Abstracts and technologically enchance our land brokerage firm onto the national stage with several in-house functions and a new website.

Personal & Academic

So much of life goes by without the multiple processes of everyday functions being acknowledged or appreciated. There is a (tangible) product at the end of most processes which are often forgotten with intense labor, the fear of future projections or mismanagement from within. My personal goals are like life, they too are a process.

When I first entered Adams State College, my goal was to become a secondary education history teacher. I began course-training for it and soon realized at the beginning of my sophomore year, I could get more education and offer students more later in life from my greater professional experience. I began to subconsciously think about life's processes and how I fit into the larger picture. It was clear to me I was paying a substantial amount of money to attend school, but what specifically to do afterward was unclear. Immediately, I started to contemplate future schooling and how that would advance my self-image, prospective careers and the fundamental goal of helping others become stronger individuals for a stronger society. The blueprint was laid, but the specifics were still sketchy. At the time, I thought this meant focusing-on and attending school almost religiously for the next four to six years after graduation. Was that intimidating? To most, the concept was frightful and made me perceived by peers as "nuts" for laying such a long-term vision with towering books, multiple pens, ever-scrolling Microsoft Word documents, and papers of which, when printed could fill many recycle bins two or three times over.

Life snuck its peculiar head in the door in my final semester of college. The common occupational decision(s) were not following up-the-steps nor were the tumultuous graduate school opportunities I once had dreamed and sketched-up two years earlier. I wanted to keep my foot in the history department at the University of Colorado at Boulder and after a rushed Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and my third consecutive Senior Seminar paper to research and write (fifty-plus pages), the opportunity to enroll in graduate schools and fulfill my continued education dream were running out. With two months remaining, an e-mail floated around the neighboring Adams State Government department, which I was also actively involved in through different classes. As it turns out, there was an opportunity to attend graduate school at the University of Colorado Denver studying Political Science: Politics and Public Policy. A classmate and friend discussed his after-school intentions and Program interest, encouraging me to enroll as well. I completed and submitted my application and was accepted a week after graduating college.

Political Science was not my primary interest, but one I felt I could work diligently with to enjoy and learn something new to become a stronger individual with well-rounded goals. Halfway through the Program, I was encouraged to select a public policy topic to develop a Master's Project on. It was a rushed decision which required minimal thinking on my part. I was interested in utilizing my history background and making that applicable to occupations. The word Civics immediately gained new life in my academic study, as that was what the next year-and-a-half of my research would encompass. This was not the "American" Revolution or Civil War thesis I envisioned writing three years earlier, but I really enjoyed grasping a new field, being challenged to advance my writing and enhancing my initial interest to help others in the classroom.

The Project known as Colorado's Policy & Plan: High School Civics for Lifetime Commitment not only advanced existing literature on the growing need to re-address Civics in today's classrooms, but it helped me recognize the need to help society efficiently communicate in different capacities and gain valuable knowledge on the processes they can be a part of or develop.

As a result of experiencing life's ever-offering opportunities at a young age and being able to recognize the values in individual and societal change to accommodate more, I anticipate continuing my education to ultimately fulfill the highest-level of educational attainment, a Ph.D. Now understanding the value and having the interest in two subjects, I am interested studying History or Political Science to attain this. My interest and passion for both subjects is something I want to incorporate in high school and college civics classrooms as a teacher. Although the timing and monetary prices can be great, the ability to work diligently at something, assist others and be productive in numerous capacities pays multiple individual and societal benefits most fail to recognize or generally take for granted.

To individually, academically and occupationally increase my stock, I am continually making an effort to become a well-rounded individual. I am always interested in education, life as a continual learning process and listening to others, their interests and concerns. Our greatest collaborative ability is being able to listen and work with one another to mutually address all interests, questions and concerns.

My specific background, interests and contributions are intentionally broadly defined to address many areas, which include:

Finally, all of life's application goals and process perspectives are preceded by personal goals. What do I want for myself? Happiness and self-fulfillment are the first two things that come to mind and are often expressed in many of my activities. However, my goals are similar to most young men my age. I want to have the opportunity to explore the world, meet many people and learn new things. I really want to get engaged in a foreign language. I would like to use that in an international affairs capacity or by helping others in desperate situations across the globe. My vision and personal goals, like professional ones, are exceedingly broad. I intentionally leave them this way not always knowing what tomorrow is going to offer and how I am going to approach it. After leaving Milliken in 2009 and while currently in oil and gas; the world, its size and opportunities suddenly dawned on me like a warm blanket. Many of my peers have found their passion in marriage and a young family, which is wonderful and ambitious in their own ways. My approach to life is to simply enjoy it, make a difference and while time transpires, continue to formulate a new plan...one which I envision having a family and children to share the experiences I have been fortunate to be a part of.

If you have questions about the goals or interests described here or would like to learn a little more about my background and how I could perhaps assist your (organizational) needs, please feel free to Contact me.