User:SAHelling/My bio for my reunion

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This is my bio for my 50-year high school class reunion

After leaving Madelia High School, I graduated from St. Olaf College (B.A., 1961; Biology). Universities attended for graduate studies included Southern Methodist, Maryland, and Georgetown. In August 2001, I became the Education Coordinator and Biotechnology Instructor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC. I teach the M.S. graduate-level biotechnology labs; am course director for “Molecular Medicine” and “Drug Targets and Drug Design”; and place graduate students into research internships in labs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), biotech companies, and patent offices.

I left the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public School system after 29.5 years teaching Advanced Placement Biology, Molecular Biology, Anatomy and Physiology, and placing Science Interns in NIH labs. During the past 22 years, I have had extensive coursework and related training in molecular biology, and this in turn has led to conducting numerous teacher and student workshops in biotechnology at local through national levels. During this period, I conducted research on a genetic disease (FMF) as a Howard Hughes Teacher Intern at NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. I co-authored two published (American Journal of Human Genetics) papers stemming from this research. During my second year at NIH, I helped their Office of Education develop programs and teach courses in biotechnology for secondary school systems.

For several summers, I taught a biotechnology course for secondary teachers at Georgetown University Medical School. Over the years I have taken courses at and collaborated with the University of Kansas Medical Center, the NIH Human Genome Center, the Institute for Genomic Research, and Cold Spring Harbor. While Chuck was in graduate school at Wisconsin, I did research at the Enzyme Institute. When he was a post-doc at Cornell University, I did research in the Department of Physical Biology and co-authored an article in Science.

Since 1995, I’ve been a reader of the AP Biology examination, have conducted several workshops for AP teachers throughout the region, have coordinated and presented workshops at several of the AP Regional Science Specialty Conferences, and have taught summer AP Institutes at area universities and colleges. I have been a member of the Teacher Resource Advisory Group for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Holiday Lectures on Science. I co-authored a curriculum entitled, “Focus on HIV. The Challenge of HIV/AIDS: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Science”.

I received teaching awards on local, state, and national levels. Some include “Outstanding Biology Teacher Award for the State of Maryland”, Maryland State recipient of the “Presidential Award”, and the “National Biology Teacher’s Biotechnology Teaching Award.” I have received recognition from several colleges and universities by receiving “Outstanding Teacher Awards”, upon recommendation by former students. In May 2003, I received the Georgetown University School of Medicine, “Biotechnology Faculty Award”.

Reflections on Work, Play, and Life: Chuck and I have put a lot of life in the years we have shared together. I have always worked full-time at a “tread mill” pace, but also have found time to balance this with time for family and travel. Our son was a competitive swimmer for 8 years prior to college and that meant driving to swim practice almost every night and working at swim meets many weekends during the year. Chuck and I continued to attend his swim meets during his 4 years at Cornell University, which was always something we enjoyed. At present, we are grateful that we live close enough to talk to and see him, his wife, and the grandchildren frequently.

I have always had a great love of travel. I like to think it was my paternal grandfather who planted the “seed” for adventure. One of the principal motivators was the yearly subscription to the National Geographic Magazine that he gave to our family. Chuck has written about the fantastic travel opportunities that his job gave to all of us. Michael and I were fortunate to be able to accompany him on most foreign travel. These experiences changed us all on many different levels and certainly have helped us in trying to understand the world picture, past and present. Perhaps the travels that made the most profound impact on me were those in Egypt and Israel, China, Russia, Honduras (Mayan temples), South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Tanzania. As a biologist, some highlights would include: viewing the diversity of life while snorkeling in Caribbean and Hawaiian waters; observing African wildlife on the Massai Mari, the Serengeti, and the Ngorogoro Crater; and visiting Dr. Leaky’s site at Olduvai Gorge. One of the most memorable social evenings was again in conjunction with Chuck’s job. He was an invited speaker at the Stockholm Water Symposium, Sweden, summer 1992. Hosted by the HM King Carl XVI Gustaf and HM Queen Silvia, held in the elegant, stately City Hall, the evening was resplendent in royal pomp and circumstance and I had the good fortune to be seated next to the King and across from the Queen at the Banquet!

Some Favorite Vacations: Although I answered this partially in the previous section, I would concur with Chuck on what he has said regarding our favorite foreign vacations, but add that our family has enjoyed several nature outings in the US over the years such as whitewater rafting, hiking in the Shenandoah, skiing in Vermont, and caving in West Virginia.

Final Comment: A Mid-West rural Madelia upbringing, a strong religious and family background instilled with solid ethical values, gave Chuck and I a good foundation from which to go forth into the world together.

This is a link back to my Homepage.

There is a PBWiki website set up for details about our class reunion activities at Madelia Reunion.

This is our class picture,

To read the bios of your other classmates, click on one of the links in the table below:

George Arduser Harold Baker Harvey Blume Lucille Borchert Jim Breiter Don Cady Larry Davis Connie DeVoll
Engel Engelson Anita Evenson Rich Gladen Sharon Guyer Charles Helling Carol Hoeft Pat Hoeft Allen Ihrke
Ellen Jensen Beverly Kannemann Carole Kelsey Maynard Kelsey John Knutson Mary Lou Kolbe Dominic Kunz Ethel Laingen
Larry McCabe Sandra Miller Lee Mitchell Garry Mussmann Ed Mutsch Vivian Nesterud Karen Osborne Darrell Pace
Waldemar Peterson Rachel Pygman Don Quass Don Rice Russell Riley John Rusten Glenda Scharbach Barb Strom
Elaine Tarrant Lee Tiedeken . . . . . .