Dear Diary, My Passion is ..... The Children, The School, The Education, Our Future...

When I saw this contest, I thought, what IS my passion?  What have I been spending time on?  What do I love to do?  Is it my family?  Is it Real Estate?  Or is it something else? 

My family, Real Estate; they are all my passion but those are a giving, a no brainer - My family is #1; my kids, my husband, even my dog, Duke, that's family, and that's what I live for.  

Real Estate is not far behind, it's what I chose to do and decided to stay in as a living.  Fortunately I have a choice in deciding what I want to do for a living; I have decided that I love real estate, the people, what it stands for, the sense of accomplishment after I help my clients.  I have a great passion for Real Estate, no doubt about that either!   

But outside of the obvious, what is my passion - Hands down, the children, the schools, the education - In short, Our Future!

One good thing about Real Estate as my career is although I feel like I am working 24x7,. I am able to somewhat schedule my time to do something I feel it's important and Education is number on my list.

My father was a famous professor in Taiwan. It was right after WWII and there was not much there.  My father came to the states, got a master's degree in Physics and, although his friends asked him to stay in the States to teach, he decided to go back home and basically build the department of Physics from Ground Up (I mean, I remember skating on the newly poured concrect and thought it was a novelty since the building was HUGE, partially due to my young age - yes, I was young once :-); also due to the fact that we just did not have such a 'BIG' building back then - a whole two stories high!) in a local college (now a famous university - National Cheng Kung University) from ground up.  

My father was passionate in education and dedicated his whole life to teaching and researching.  We did not have much, but I know he made great influence in a lot of his student's life and he lived a full, satisfying life!  

I was influenced by my father early on.  In addition, growing up in Taiwan, we (the whole country) have always see Education as Number One in the priority list.  We know that we don't have much and without good education, there is no future and there is jus no two ways around it!

If I could have another choice in career, I would have become a teacher because that's when you can make the most difference in somebody's life and being a good teacher can be a very rewarding life in itself.  Instead, I become a Realtor, and dedicated part of my life volunteering at local schools.  

I am very involved in the local middle and high school. My kids are avid musicians, and naturally, I am very involved in music boosters.  I am more of a doer, staying in the background, rather than being in the foreground.  

It's extremely satisfying to be there watching your kids grow, learn, enjoy what they do and making friends, while making great friends ourselves along the way - the best way to meet caring, wonderful local people is to be involved; that's where those people gather - they are out there helping and volunteering.  I served on music boosters since the kids are in 6^th grade and he is now a sophomore in college, so we shall say, 8 years and going on?  

I get to watch performances, go to festivals, local events, fundraising, charitable events, enjoyed Jazz, Classical, Rock, Choir, Band, Musical Theater, Show choir, Katrina Benefit, Frankie Poulos Foundation, Madrigal Feast, Rock and Blues by the Lake,  Marin Home Show, School Art Show Case, to name a few.  I sell snacks, sell Ads, develop programs, help with BBQ, setting up and tearing down risers, drive the kids to and from, and so on,   

While doing that, I got involved in school's site leadership team, which is a combination of administrator, teacher, staff, students and parents elected to serve on the team.  This is the place to learn first hand about the schools direction, problems and solutions, budgetary issues and feedbacks and suggestions on a high level.   

Seeing the needs for better communication with the parents, students, community and better Public Relationship; and blessed with a technical background (I managed large IT projects prior to the Real Estate career), I volunteered to be the school's eNews editor and San Marin High School Website Admin; keeping everybody informed and involved.  Another great satisfaction!   

Seeing the need of bringing high tech education into the Marin school system, I also helped mentor the newly formed Robotics Team which won first Rookies' team and Second Place overall in the First Robotics Contest at the U.C. Davis Regional competition,.    

On a larger scale, I am actively involved with Novato School Fuel - the foundation for public education to raise money for Novato Public Schools.  Walking the prescient for Parcel Tax A+ for Kids and hosting phone bank at Frank Howard Allen Realtors also become part of my volunteer work for a while there.

Hearing how I was involved with local schools, my Rotary club asked me to be the Youth Director (O.K. that's because the real Youth Director got promoted to work for Marin County Education so she does not have the time).  That gives me a whole other dimension of being involved with our youth in Novato.

The satisfaction of knowing I am making differences in our public school systems, in our children's life and contributed to their happiness, their growth, advancements and welfare; knowing that by giving a small part of me, I could be making a difference in somebody's future; and with many other caring volunteers, collectively making a big difference in our country's future is what makes me continue to volunteer.

You can say that this is my passion! The Children, The Schools, The Education and Our Future!