Introductions

[Whitney Bacon]

Hi everyone,

Welcome to GEG Iowa! This thread is dedicated to introductions, so please take a moment to introduce yourself. Feel free to share some information about your background, interests, and why you joined the group. It's a great opportunity for us to get to know each other better and foster a strong community spirit.

I will start! My name is Whitney Bacon and I started GEG Iowa as an educator who frequently attends meetings hosted by other nearby GEGs. For the past year or two, I've really wished Iowa had a group of our own, so that I could be introduced to educators nearer to me and for the opportunity of in-person meet-ups. So, at some point, I reached out to some various GEG Leaders to ask about the process of creating my own group from scratch and it seemed easy enough! And here we are! :)

To give you a little more about me. I am an Educational Technology Specialist for the Iowa Educational Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (a mouthful I know, I'll refer to us as IESBVI). Essentially I am an Instructional Designer or "Tech Coach" for Iowa's teachers of the visually impaired. I previously taught middle school for 7.5 years before pursing a masters in Learning Technologies & Design: Technology in School. I can't say I ever expected to find myself in the special education field but when IESBVI reached out with the opportunity, it sounded exciting, so I took a chance and have now been with IESBVI a little over a year and a half.

Outside of work, there is currently a lot going on! I am getting married next March and we have been together for 6 years. We have a labradoodle and a calico kitty. We are also remodeling our mid-century modern home (mostly ourselves, thanks to my fiance's experience with parents who flip homes). When I'm not crazy busy with any of that, you can most likely find me reading. I read every day, every chance I get (I'm known as the girl "book girl" when I walk the dog since I've always got one with me). I also really love anything outdoors, hiking, camping, biking, canoeing , landscaping and we are doing RAGBRAI this year. It's our first time, so wish us luck!

I can't wait to meet all of you, welcome and thank you so much for joining our group!

Whitney Bacon