Archive for ‘Alumni Spotlight’

Matt Worthington, a 2008 Abilene Christian University Graduate from San Antonio, TX, has since uprooted his life to Washington, DC where he teaches Special Education to 8th graders with Emotional Disabilities in the DC Public School System through Teach For America and is currently helping to start an Urban Church Plant in the Columbia Heights and Georgia Petworth Neighborhoods of Washington, DC where he lives and teaches. Matt, a former English Major, is also pursuing his Master’s in Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA where he will graduate from in May 2011. Immediately thereafter, he will be married to another wonderful ACU Alum, Jessica Reyna (08′), who is currently pursuing her MFT at Seattle Pacific University.

Jessica Haseltine, a 2007 ACU graduate, went on to get a Master of Science in Environmental Management from Hardin Simmons University, graduating in 2009. She currently works as a technical writer for Milsoft Utility Solutions in Abilene. She has been accepted to Texas Tech School of Law and will be starting there this fall.

Kayla Anderson Hewitt, a 2006 ACU graduate, has been accepted into the Master of Arts in the Teaching of English as a Second Language program at the University of Illinois for the fall of 2010. Kayla, a former English major and Spanish minor, hopes to help adult English learners overcome communication barriers.

In December of 1999, I graduated from ACU with a degree in English.  Happily married and comfortably ignorant, my only plans at the time involved finding a job in my home state of Colorado.  I also had aspirations to attend the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute.  Soon after graduating, my wife Emily and I moved to Denver.  I then inadvertently pushed the fast-forward button on my life:

2000: Worked as a freelance writer and editor (trying to build my publishing portfolio) and successfully graduated from the Denver Publishing Institute: www.du.edu/pi

2001: Landed a job as the Assistant Editor for a company called Media Business Corp

2003: My son, Hayden Thomas, was born (Sept. 16)

2003: Created Snowshoe Magazine – a publication devoted to the sport of snowshoeing: www.snowshoemag.com

2005: Bought a house

2005: Lost my job with Media Business Corp and found a new job with OpenTV as the Technical Writer

2005: My daughter, Lola Love, was born (Oct. 22)

2006: Decided to leave OpenTV for a job with Quiznos as the Corporate Communications Manager

2009: Lost my job with Quiznos and decided to move to Texas for a job with ColorTyme as the Public Relations and Communications Specialist

2010: Moved back to Colorado for a job with InsightSoftware.com as the Internet Marketing Manager

2010: Trying to get some sleep

I’m glad to be back in Colorado – as you can see in the photo.  This brief timeline of my personal and professional life should illustrate one thing: Anything can happen.   I believe that my ACU education helped me build a nice foundation for my future, the unexpected and all.

Today, I’m employed by a software company as its social media and digital marketing expert.  Way unexpected!  But it shouldn’t be.  Writers and editors are becoming successful marketers – it’s a natural fit.  And Snowshoe Magazine is booming!  That was expected.  Earning my English degree at ACU was the best decision I ever made.  The rest was gravy.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanalford.