Stephen McKenzie

Shoreline CC -> UW -> Seattle Pacific College BS Biology-> Oregon State Univ. MS Food Science & Technology. Put myself through college working as Longshoreman/warehouseman (Local 9) in Seattle. Worked as tech at UW Med School, Developed new food products for General Mills (Minneapolis), then Clorox with a short stint making waxes, polishes & cleaners for Armor All auto care products. Ended my working career as a substitute middle school teacher and handyman.
I've been involved in volunteer activities my whole life. That has taken me to Thailand, Egypt, and Ecuador, in addition to local projects and events.
Lived in Lynnwood area until end of 1976, then on to Albany Oregon, Maple Grove, Minn., Dublin/San Ramon/Danville California and finally to Hamilton, MT.

Painfully enduring Mr Bergum's Chemistry class. He would waste half the period talking about the Minnesota Twins, then drone through a confusing lecture about electron shells or something. If he caught you nodding off or daydreaming he would throw a piece of chalk or an eraser at you. When we did a lab or a class demo, he would thrust some foul smelling concoction under your nose and ask what it smelled like, claiming that his own olfactory capabilities had long since been sacrificed on the alter of science.

Then there was Mr Ridge's world history or geography class. He arbitrarily assigned students to work together on a report on a South American country. My group was assigned to report on Argentina, and he gave me the task of teaching the class, presenting our work, once the project was finished. I tried to get him to make someone else do the oral presentation but he refused. So the day came and I taught the class. It went much better than I imagined. Afterwards Mr. Ridge complimented me then told me I would have received an A but because of my bad attitude he was only giving me a B. That was a pretty tough lesson in following orders and being a team player.