Hello again blog-world!
This comes almost a year late, but I have not posted anything in quite some time, so I thought I would recap this past year for memory sake.
So, I’m now a Videographer/Editor/Photographer for Stevenson University and a resident of Windsor Mill next to Baltimore, MD. How did I get here? Grab a comfy chair and let me tell you…
It all started when I was told my job at Crown College would not continue. My position in the Marketing & Communication Departments was no longer being funded. I absolutely love the college and the people, but companies and organizations must do what they can to stay afloat in a struggling economy…in short, I got laid off.
At the time, when I recently had heard of my position being terminated, my only job lead was to help a guy start a local TV station in Wolf Point, Montana…(ie. the middle of no-where of the middle of montana aka. America’s middle of no-where). So, my family and I decided to go to Montana in May to meet the guy and see what the position was all about. While there, my wife and I began to realize how uncertain this position looked as far as security and living conditions, etc. We decided to move in another direction and kinda keep this in the back of our minds, praying that God would open up another door and possibly close this one.
The following month, we moved out of our apartment/townhouse on Crown’s campus to stay with my in-laws until we felt at peace about making our next move. We put all our stuff in a friend’s apartment in MN until we figured out our next step. Our stuff sat two doors down from our townhouse at Crown, while we traveled to Chippewa Falls, WI for a month. Meanwhile, I applied for as many jobs as I could. I finished a freelance project for the C&MA Youth conference hosted at Crown, made a video reel for my portfolio, played a lot of Disc Golf with my brother-in-law and enjoyed target practice with my archery equipment whenever I could. To be honest, I kind of liked the downtime to relax and enjoy some recreational activities, minus the time spent applying for jobs of course.
While staying in WI we traveled to Pennsylvania to visit my parents for a week, since I had all this free vacation now. However, before we left I got an email back from one of my applications. It was from Stevenson University. After a few emails we established a time for me to swing down to MD to interview while I was visiting my parents in PA. I was a little surprised that 150 people had applied for this position already. Needless to say, I felt my odds for getting this position was a little less than great.
I had a little problem for the interview. My suits and nice dress clothes were in storage in MN. This problem worked itself out on our way to my parent’s place. We stopped in Chicago to visit with my friends Jordan and Nikki. While there I was able to borrow dress pants, dress shirt and matching tie, as well as dress shoes. I was very thankful for that. But when we got to my parent’s place I felt like I needed a full suit. So I borrowed my dad’s suit and belt. I was finally ready for the interview wearing nothing of my own except my underwear.
The interview went very well and when it was over, Aaron Harris (who is now my supervisor) took me for a tour and told me my chances for getting the position were very good. I heard back a week or so later that they offered me the job. I thought and prayed about it for a while and decided to take the position.
Now the next step was to find a place to live and worship.
(continued in Part 2)
Jake Wattenphul 