Life Long Oregonian
I grew up in rural Clackamas County, a mile from Barton Park, as the youngest of six children. My father was a prominent bankruptcy attorney, helping over 10,000 get their financial lives back in order, and I am the proud grandson of a veteran of Pearl Harbor. At Gladstone High School, I served on the student council my sophomore and junior years, then graduated early at Clackamas Community College. I worked as a package handler at FedEx and then as a waiter before attending Seattle Pacific University in the U Scholars (honors) program for two years until the economy made my future unaffordable, an experience too many Millennials have shared with me. Then I worked as my father's paralegal to help support the family business until he retired at the end of 2019. I moved to Salem for work and have never been happier. Now I work for the Oregon Department of Justice, where I have gained an understanding of how government really works. I also volunteer for the Marion County Fair and enjoy other community opportunities that were never available to me as a rural Oregonian.
Northgate Neighborhood Association
After moving to Salem on March 1, 2020, I became active in my community when my neighbor knocked on my door and said that people had been trying to get speed bumps on our street, a convenient shortcut between Silverton and Portland Roads, for over 20 years. In just two years, speeding drivers twice collided with parked cars. I wrote a petition that was signed by every single resident of our street, which Jess Cruz and I took to the City in hopes of making actual change. After doing the legwork on a traffic study, the City acknowledged that our street met the criteria for speed bumps, but said there was no room in the budget for it. We went to the Northgate Neighborhood Association, where we were made board members, and forced meetings with City employees from the Public Works Department, Fire Department, and Compliance Departments, all of whom told us we were not getting speed bumps. After we started there were two more accidents, one a drunk driver who hit three different cars in one night. Due to the pressure we put on them, the City finally agreed to three speed bumps, not just on my street, but on two others in North Salem that had similar problems to us. These speed bumps cost only a few thousand dollars each and were installed in a single day. Since then, there has not been a single accident.
Oregon Paralegal Association
I joined the Oregon Paralegal Association (OPA) in 2019, looking for career and educational opportunities. First becoming a specialty group chair in 2020, I was asked to serve as Treasurer on our board in 2021. Starting in 2022, I worked on our Mid-Willamette Valley Committee to expand our membership in Salem. I walked in the doors of dozens of Salem law firms with a flyer and a business card to invite paralegals to join us for a first of its kind networking opportunity. With two of my dedicated colleagues, we have put on over a dozen free CLEs (Continuing Legal Education) for our members and have more scheduled, each presented by distinguished members of our local legal community.
I was tremendously honored to receive OPA's 2023 Outstanding Member Award.
