Fund Chris's Dream to Educate Others

My Goal:

My goal is simple, I want to help Chris teach people. I’ve spent the last two years trying to figure out how to help Chris make a difference in the lives of others, and the answer that I always come back to is that he must teach. Recently, when he stopped working for Bent Tree, I encouraged him to pursue teaching history in Georgia schools.

Chris plans on attending the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega to get a teaching certificate in history. The only obstacle keeping him from this goal is funding. There is no financial aid available for those who pursue certification. His recent job transition has placed him in a position of economic hardship. He would be too proud to ask and has no idea why I asked him so many questions about his past.

Please see his bio below to learn more about him.

About Chris:

He was fortunate to have had parents that encouraged him to read from a very early age. However, he always felt a bit 'fish out of water' when it came to his childhood friends and relatives. At the age of four, his parents used to ask him to read the newspaper in front of other people. I'm sure it seemed like a novelty.

At age nineteen, Chris joined the Army. He spent three years traveling abroad and learning about other world cultures. In the Army, his job was as a docket clerk for one of only three military judges in Europe.

Beginning at age twenty-three, Chris attended college at Ferris State University in northern Michigan. He graduated with a bachelor's and associate's degree with a 3.4 GPA.

Fast forward to seven years ago. Chris's partner told him she wanted a child. He was ecstatic. Chris had always wanted a child. Chris's partner became pregnant and his daughter Aviana came into the world nearly six years ago. They were living in New Orleans and didn't want to raise her in a rough and tumble town. So when Aviana was two weeks old, they moved to Jasper in a cabin nestled some 2,400 feet above sea level on the western slope of Mt. Oglethorpe.

Soon he became enraptured with the beauty and history of the Appalachian Mountains and its people. Chris began writing history articles for the Pickens County Progress as a contributing writer, and became a member of the county's Historical Society. He also has led bus tours for the Georgia Marble Festival for the last three years in a row.

Over the last six months he published two books about North Georgia history, and gave several talks about history to groups like the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution in Dawson, Pickens, Cherokee, and Gilmer Counties.

He hopes to take his life’s experiences and apply them towards developing a career dedicated to helping others. His end goal is to help teenagers and adults to appreciate the past by connecting them with tangible artifacts and old homesteads, mills, and other ruins. He wants to offer resources to those who desperately seek them, and keep an open ear to their questions, while hoping to spark their zeal for knowledge. Chris wants people to know they're not alone in their curiosity and that there are people who want to help them thrive. According to him, too often teens take on interests that are far removed from their own creative skills. He wants to be a source of inspiration to them, and by extension, others, to help spread the appreciation for our past.