Northwest Indiana is filled with many bright and dedicated educators. But to some, the classroom is isn't in a typical room with chalkboards and desks. An education can be found just about anywhere if one is willing to teach and another is willing to learn. Jennifer Dennison is in the educational system at Indiana University Northwest, and she's loving every minute of it.
Born and raised in Portage, Dennison made her way through the Portage School System. She was involved in many activities in school and remained active afterward.
"I did a lot of different activities growing up. I was very busy and I was an easy child," Dennison said.
IU Bloomington was Dennison's destination for college. She majored in Journalism, but after taking a course designed to give undergrad students the tools to work with other students who were on academic probation. switched from Journalism to Elementary Education.
During her junior and senior years, Dennison was involved in an after school program at the Monroe County School Corporation and then she came back to Portage for her student teaching. Then an awesome opportunity presented itself and she went and taught at a small school just outside of Dublin, Ireland.
"It was an amazing experience. It was called a Cultural Immersion Project, there were different countries to choose from and you had to take a series of graduate level courses to prepare you. A friend a year ahead of me did the program before me in Australia and raved about it," Dennison said.
When Dennison came back to the state, she made her way to Arizona where she taught for a year. That's when she decided to step away from the classroom. To Indiana University Northwest she went. She had worked there in the mid-2000s and liked it. In 2010 she was offered a position in the academic success and achievement program at IUN as a Program Assistant. Dennison has been with IUN ever since.
Her job is to help new students get acclimated to college life. It's tough going to a new school with a new level of standards and ideals, and Dennison is there to help make the transition easier.
"The best thing about working here is the diversity of the students, faculty, and staff. We have different people from different backgrounds and it's interesting to see how these backgrounds and ideas come together," Dennison said. "Another thing I liked was the opportunity to continue my education. I'm have my MPA with a concentration in public management."
And she's happy where she is at.
"I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now and I have a lot of opportunities coming down the pipe pretty quickly so I'm going to enjoy what I do now and make my decision later on," she said.
In her free time, Dennison loves to travel; and she'll go pretty much anywhere - Paris, London, Las Vegas, New Orleans, maybe head back to Pheonix, AZ to see friends.
As for her home in Portage. It's where the heart is.
"I love living in Portage," Dennison said. "I grew up there and it's where my family is."