Service Array:
Individual Skill Development and Enhancement
I was born in Madison, WI and raised in a small town twenty miles south of Madison. It was the first “agricultural” area when you got out of the suburbs. FFA was by far the largest organization in my school. My parents got divorced when I was 10 years old. I split custody with them 50/50 but my older brother never lived with one of my parents. He was also four years older so we weren’t that close. I grew up being active in sports, raising livestock, competing at state and national shows, and raising my own herd of 15 purebred hereford sows starting in 7th grade. The small town life led me to be very active in the Wisconsin Drinking culture. I would leverage my parents against each other to go out drinking.
I decided to leave Wisconsin after graduating high school for Iowa State University where I got a double major in Agricultural Business and Econonmics with a minor in political science. My older brother happened to also enroll at Iowa State at the same time as I did and was one year ahead of me from credit’s transferred from his time at DMACC. As soon as I could move out of the dorms and start throwing college parties, I did. Alcohol was very much a part of my life and that did not change while in college. I started up a purebred berkshire sow herd with my brother renting a farm three miles west of campus and also worked as lumberjack year round.
After graduating from Iowa State, I took a job running research trials on swine vaccines and also helping with diagnostic investigations. I very much enjoyed this job for 7 years until we had a swine team meeting and they laid everybody off and told us to re-apply with half as many positions available as before. I was “lucky” enough to be kept on by my headcount being moved to a company we acquired out of Worthington,MN. I wanted to retain my Iowa hunting license so I bought a house in Northwest IA 6 miles south of the Minnesota border. I closed on my house February 28th, 2020. A week later my office was closed down due to covid. I had no friends in the area, no co-workers that I knew and now lived in a town of less than 500 people.
My drinking progressed to unsubstainable levels and I knew I needed to make a change. With the help of family, I sold my house and moved to Waukesha,WI to start my recovery journey. My sobriety date is March 9th, 2024. Now I work in sales, spend time with my dog, cooking new foods and smoking new things on my traeger.
I have had a long journey with alcohol playing a major facet in my life and I believe these challenges have allowed me to grow and develop as a person that is now ready to support others in their journey as well.