If you are not already doing so, be sure to follow the action on instagram. The daily giveaway winners and CHAR co alumni tips will be shared there along with the end of the week’s $500 scholarship! This week each team member will share a little about life when they graduated from high school and where they went from there. Just like yours, each story is uniquely them.

Today we have the pleasure of hearing Anna’s story. Anna is our incredible editor. Anna is incredible at prioritizing people and relationships even as life rushes on. Relishing the little moments of joy along the way, she has a way of connecting with others. Alongside of that, whatever she does? It is going to be done top notch. Never stagnant….she is always looking forward and dreaming, stratagizing, and ready run with the next adventure or task at hand. Enjoy hearing a bit of her story!

Where did you work during high school?
I worked as a DJ at a radio station. Thankfully I didn’t have to talk much. I mostly got to choose music, which would have been awesome except it was an extremely conservative station with exceptionally boring music. So I would start a segment of songs on my radio station and then tune in to a different station on a little radio I had with me to pass the time until it was time to choose a new segment.

Did you go straight to college after high school? Why or why not?
I did go to college right after high school and if I’m honest, I would say I did it just because it was the logical next step. I didn’t know what I was going for (and still didn’t really by the time I graduated – although I did obviously have to declare a major). Looking back, I really wish I had spent more time figuring out what my strengths were and what I would really want to pursue before I headed to college.

What did life look like after high school/college graduation?
I accepted a teaching job at a Christian high school teaching Bible and English. After a couple years teaching, I met my husband and quit teaching when a job led him to another state.

How did you end up at CHAR co?
My husband and I moved here after he was hired as a children’s pastor. I felt a bit lost because I didn’t know anyone in the area and had no idea what to do with my time since I was no longer teaching. I happened to pick up a camera and start trying to take pictures. A mutual friend, seeing my interest in photography, connected me to Char Co to do an internship. After several months of interning, I became a member of the Char Co team.

Is there anything you want to share with a high school graduate?
Don’t wait for your life to begin. It is happening NOW!!! It’s so easy to think of life starting when you finally graduate, or when you get through college, start your dream job, get married, have kids, etc. If you live that way, you will reach a point somewhere down the line where you look back and realize that you never embraced the amazing moments that actually made up your life. The years of being single when you were free and so full of hope, the years of college where your thinking was expanded and you made so many new friends, the difficult first years in your career where you were trying to prove yourself and push yourself as far as you could go, and those crazy baby years (the ones I am in right now) with slobbery kisses and wobbly steps. These are the real moments of our lives and they are all beautiful. Don’t waste them on waiting for your life to begin. Embrace them! Fully live every moment you are given and you will have an amazing life!!!

Thanks Anna! Xo