[00:00:00] Nicole Huesman: Oh, Christi, it's been so long and it's so wonderful to have you here. Thank you so much for spending your time with us today.

[00:00:08] Christi Harter: Absolutely. It's great to see you again.

[00:00:11] Nicole Huesman: Yeah. Yeah. Can you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about you. And where are you on your journey today?

[00:00:21] Christi Harter: Well, I am currently at Eastern Washington University as the Assistant Vice President for Professional and Continuing Education. And I had to giggle because when you say a little bit about my journey, Uh, as you've seen, uh, it's been a long, awesome, interesting and diverse road. So, you know, when I'm interviewing for a position and I'm supposed to like describe my background and my experience connected to the work, it's, uh, about a five minute answer, so I'll just try and fill in the gaps as we have a conversation today, but yes, Cheney, Washington is the location of my employment.

[00:00:59] Nicole Huesman: [00:01:00] So you really started in South Dakota. Do you think your early years have had an influence on who you are today and where you find yourself?

[00:01:28] Nicole Huesman: Yeah.

[00:01:30] Christi Harter: I was just talking to people that I'm a grant evaluator for, talking to the grantees today about, I'm traveling back to South Dakota. So Colome, South Dakota is home, a town of 300 people. And just how I wouldn't change that for any experience that I've had. Um, an example would be I'm lining up my friends and my family to go to steak night on Thursday night. And that's an icon in our small little community that has been there, you know, for how many decades? 

[00:02:00] But the simplicity and the understanding of you need to work and this is how you work and these are how you connect with, this is how you connect with people, um, has really made a huge impact I think on my life because I like to work. I like to make connections with people. Um, my dad was very clear that we didn't take anything from anybody and I've actually had to kind of grow through that because It's not taking from somebody when people want to help you with your career or be a mentor or connect you to somebody else. But I've had a really hard time learning how to, you know, ask for help, first of all, and then accept help, second of all.

[00:02:41] But by all means, I'm really grateful to have grown up in that small community and all the opportunities that it's provided me beyond my little town of South Colome.

[00:02:52] Nicole Huesman: And you know, when we talked earlier to, from South Dakota to what you've lived [00:03:00] in five different states and four different countries. So, you know, from, from your, your small town in, in South Dakota. Wow. And then you've served in the Peace Corps and, you know, can you talk a little bit about, or how do you think your diversity In the places that you've lived and the experiences that you've had through the Peace Corps have shaped your, your view on life.

[00:03:33] Christi Harter: Incredibly. So, especially cause that small little town was not diverse at all. Uh, we had two native American students and they were adopted in our entire community. So, you know, part of that, that component of the Peace Corps evolved from going with my sister to Morocco when her husband was spraying locusts there. So my sophomore year of college, I was able to do that with her and it just opened my [00:04:00] eyes to obviously a whole nother world and lifestyle and culture and how people interact. 

And then two of my summers in university, I got to spend with my cousins in California, they were living in Imperial beach. So I got to see what that looked like and felt like, and, you know, being able to have a understanding of what else is out there and that it's possible to do something differently, I think really, um, was significant in the idea of going into the Peace Corps.

And a shout out to my university professor when I asked him, so I went, you know, from college algebra through calc five with this human, his name's Dr. Farney. And I remember asking him about, you know, I'm not ready at 21. I'm graduating college at 21 to teach 18-year-olds, high school math. I said, what are the other options out there for math educators? And he spoke about the Peace Corps and how the Peace Corps, you know, it's a competitive entry and how they like Midwesterners because of how hardworking we are, [00:05:00] and I left that conversation going, Oh, Dr. Farney, you know, he's always putting something unique and different out there. And I went and looked in the library, what it meant, um, did my application, submitted it, got a letter in the university mail, and it said, you've been selected to go to Ghana, West Africa. I went back to the library and had to look up where it's at on the globe because I had no idea.

[00:05:23] So, but that diversity piece of being in the Peace Corps just it changed my life for the better because I then was the minority. I was the only Caucasian in my village of probably 3, 000. And as a woman too, the, the gender differences are so significant, but it just helped me understand that the opportunity of what we are given by being born here in the United States is so significant.

[00:05:49] And, um, the relevance of what that means for people who don't have these opportunities is also so significant, which has driven a lot of passion [00:06:00] around what I wanted to do, you know, through my work and my career, as well as just being a good human.

[00:06:07] Nicole Huesman: Wow. So what, what a pivotal experience for you. What were some other pivotal experiences do you think that, that brought you into the education realm? And, and how did you, you know, find yourself, what was your path into the education area? You know, and, and, uh, it, In, in speaking with you, it sounds like it was really your calling to go into education.

[00:06:38] Christi Harter: I have to laugh because when we were in college, there were four of us who were off and, um, athletics were a huge and a significant part of all of my life, you know, my childhood and my high school. But there were four of us senior girls that played college, played basketball together, and all four of us were offered college scholarships to play basketball at the same university. [00:07:00] And then I was offered a scholarship to play at an engineering university as well. 

And I remember walking into my mom's office. She's been the business manager or was a business manager of our school district for 47 years. So I walk into her office and I say, mom, what should I do? Should I go to the engineering school or go to the education school?

[00:07:19] And she's, you know, honestly, we didn't have engineers in Colome, South Dakota, so nobody was there to ask for advice around what that is and what it looks like, and it even means to be an engineer. Mom’s in the education world. And she said, well, you like math. You like to coach. You get your summers off. Why don't you go get your math teaching degree and be a high school math coach and basketball coach? And I walked out saying, okay, I'll go do that. So that's how I got into the field. 

Um, where, what my, what I found and one of the questions, you know, that we were wanting to talk about is, you know, what [00:08:00] that experience was like and what my advice would be to other young people getting into the field. I was so concerned about being perfect and having everything organized and everything structured that I didn't know how to be personable. So I feel like I could have been such a better educator had I been taught that and practiced that and known that. So I struggled as a educator, because I thought everything had to be so regimented, which is pretty much how I was raised.

[00:08:31] Um, so, you know, my goal now is to lead with being personable and lead with being kind and lead with understanding and listening versus the opposite.

[00:08:42] Nicole Huesman: Wow. So, and how did you, how did that evolve for you? That, I mean, that was a really, real epiphany that you needed to be more personable. Uh, how did that, how did that unfold for you? And, and how did you, how did that come up and how [00:09:00] did you learn how to lean into that, I guess.

[00:09:06] Christi Harter: Through education, um, my, my own education, but also the research around how to connect with people and how to be a great educator. That came out probably Oh, I'm in this now 32 years that came out probably I'd say 15 to 16 years ago through research that this is the best way to connect with kids. And it was really by example, when kids are coming to your classroom and they're late, welcome them in, you know, ask them how they're doing, have them come and sit down, not tell them they're tardy and they need to go do, you know, whatever we do when we tell them they're tardy. But talk to them, because they're already, there's so much research out there now about what's happening with our kids and their struggles and what's happening in their home lives. Even in the United States, we have large and huge challenges with many of our families. [00:10:00] So those kids don't need their teacher to also be one of the challenges and one of the, you know, disconnects to a welcoming environment. So that was, that's how I learned it by being taught that information.

[00:10:15] Nicole Huesman: Wow. There's so much coming up for me as I hear you talk about this. Um, because I think oftentimes what I found with now my son, who's, goodness, he's now 13, but so often, um, we have this one teacher who he absolutely adores. Uh, she was his fourth grade teacher. And I think that the reason that we still go and visit her every Halloween because that was one of her, that has been one of her big holidays. [00:11:00] And I think the reason that he gravitated to her, and she is still, to this day, his, his most favorite teacher, was that she really, she took that different perspective. And rather than, Uh, berating him, and I, and I guess I also need to say at this point that he is neurodiverse, he has ADHD, um, and I think he has had from time to time, a lot of anxiety around that, that she really saw him and was able to meet him where he, where he was and able to see him as a, as a little person, you know, he was only in fourth grade at that point, Um, but she treated [00:12:00] him with such respect and kindness and empathy that, um, yeah, that we continue to visit her every Halloween because she, yeah, she, she did that for him when many of the other teachers that he has had may not have done that.

[00:12:25] Christi Harter: Well, and I saw that with the technology component of adding that into my classrooms when I was teaching, uh, in a private Catholic school. And again, like I'm really, you know, I have to have all of my lesson plans ready to go on it. You know, we have to stay, um, on task. One of my principals was. Um, like reviewing my class and then doing my evaluation, and she's like, Christi, you have such a beautiful smile. Why didn't you smile during the class very much? And I'm like, cause I'm afraid I'm going to lose them if I make, you know, if I make jokes or I, if I'm too, [00:13:00] you know, if I'm not strict enough. And she then explained to me, you know, the component of what's going to help them be connected is you being connected to them. I'm like, okay, yes. 

And then we had these CDs that came in our new textbooks and I took the students into the computer lab, which was not very commonly used then. This was in Minneapolis, so ‘96 to ‘98, and the two students that stayed in the room the longest, it's computer-based instruction, they were learning how to use sine, cosine and tangent on a computer-based game, um, by getting the fire truck through a forest to where the fire was, you know, projecting. Um, but these two boys that really disliked my class, when I was doing it in the traditional mode, did not want to leave the classroom, they were having so much fun learning using that technology.

[00:13:54] So that's what really got me excited about what technology can do to help support students that aren't your [00:14:00] traditional sit and get students. And, you know, the component around moving into educational technology was really around that. Because I saw the benefits that, when kids are ingrained and doing the work themselves versus having to listen to me and show them how to do it on a whiteboard, you know, and then you go do their worksheet, they're actually doing it themselves and they're learning and engaged and enjoying mathematics for maybe one of the first times in their lives. That was very exciting for me.

[00:14:29] Nicole Huesman: Yeah, because it's interesting to them. You've, you've connected with them and, and you've made it, uh, interesting. I know that just taking my son as an example, he he's hyper-focused on the things that are just riveting to him. And then, you know, things that aren’t interesting to him, he, he struggles, right? Um, you know, and, and, [00:15:00] So it's, it's interesting to hear you talk about technology in the classroom in this way and the upside that it has in drawing these students into learning in a way that's most interesting to them.

[00:15:17] Christi Harter: Absolutely. And well, your son, for example, would be one of the other components of what I learned in terms of connecting with kids is giving them the outline of what the project is that they need to develop and they can choose to do what area of interest that they have and then they get to share that out. So we did that in my middle school technology class when each student had to take a country and then they had to figure out, you know, what the country's flag was and they had to figure out the national anthem and their national language and what their culture was. And it was so interesting because the majority of students did not know what the word culture meant. [00:15:57] So that was really a fun experience and then they [00:16:00] all got up and presented what they could present as well. 

And the other point that I love about technology in the classroom is it allows students … So blended learning means you're putting your curriculum online so that students can access it, parents can access it, you have it lined out, your administration can access it, your co-partner teachers, your substitute teacher, but students can then go back to that.

[00:16:26] So I've got a lesson that's been presented or a video they need to watch or, you know, they need the directions because they want to move ahead because they're three weeks ahead or they've been gone for three weeks. All of that is located and housed for them. So they have access to it. And now with technology, they can listen to that at, in a different language, for example, when we have students, you know, our English language learning students. So, yeah, I'm super passionate about blended learning, and there's a load of research on how it's the most effective for instruction, rather than just face-to-face and or [00:17:00] just online.

[ ] Nicole Huesman: That's extremely insightful because one of the concerns that I've had, I just, I love this conversation. Uh, yeah, one of the concerns that I've had as both a mom and then as somebody in having spent so much time, so much of my career in the tech industry, I've been concerned about the downsides of technology in the classroom and whether or not we've given teachers and administrators adequate training in, in, in the area in how to, how to best use technology, so I'm finding this conversation so refreshing. And I'd love [00:18:00] just to, I'm, I'm loving to hear about how you're using technology in the classroom such that it's an upside to, to use the benefits of technologies to supplement the learning and to meet the kids where they are and in a way that best draws them in.

[00:18:21] You've done such a beautiful job in integrating technology in the classroom, in a way that, you know, really draws your students in. What would you recommend to other educators in terms of navigating some of the downsides of tech in [00:19:00] the classroom?

[00:19:01] Christi Harter: I think in education, in general, we have to have students engaged. They need to be the ones doing the work. They need to be the ones connected to the work. You mentioned it with Duncan, like, if he's engaged in something that he's passionate about, you can't stop him, right?

[00:19:18] Nicole Huesman: Right. Absolutely.

[00:19:20] Christi Harter: If he's not interested in it, then there's going to be a problem.

[00:19:23] Christi Harter: And that's not just Duncan with ADHD. That's people in general. Even people that are willing to sit and get, it doesn't mean that they're actually listening and learning just cause they're sitting and looking at you. I mean, there's again, so much research on people are going to be able to absorb information and apply it if they actually have to apply it, you know, versus I can do worksheets galore in terms of the mathematical component of calc three or four. It doesn't mean that I know how to actually build a bridge because I was never taught how to build a bridge. So that to me is the aspect. 

There's a [00:20:00] load of concerns with social media and all of the issues that our schools are having to manage and deal with. And that's, you know, in the university setting as well. However, again, if we are bringing students into the classroom and maybe that classroom is outside or it's in a lab, and they don't have a need to be on their cell phone to look up anything that's negative or derogative, um, that to me is that experiential, hands-on learning.

[00:20:29] Nicole Huesman: Yeah. And it sounds like it's almost a choose-your-own-adventure. And because they're getting that choice in the classroom, they're then engaged and interested.

[00:21:26] Christi Harter: Yeah, I think one of the favorite classes that I taught when I was teaching middle school technology was, um, 8th grade technology class. And we had different, um, Um, different, uh, oh gosh, like section set up. That's not the right word. Different. Stations. Yes. They're different stations set up. And then the kids with a partner got to rotate through each of those stations each week. And they were everything from SimCity to pneumatics, to Kinect, you know, building that huge, awesome roller coaster [00:22:00] and, and making it actually rotate around. It was awesome. I had kids run into my classroom and ask if they could start their projects. They never ran into my mathematics classroom. Let's just put it that way. 

[00:23:26] Nicole Huesman: So can you talk a little bit about some of the projects that you're invested in at where you are now and some of the, uh, skills based, uh, career-connected learning? Um, cause I think that's just really interesting.

[00:23:48] Christi Harter: So my job, in and of itself, is to develop courses and programs and certificates that are non-degree. So degrees for your undergrad or your master's or your doctorate, [00:24:00] we want to support that and we want to help with that. But what we do is all things professional and continuing education. So if you go to a seminar and you get continuing education units, or if you're an educator, those are clock hours. Those are, those seminars are what we're delivering. 

What we're really trying to do intentionally is use, um, workforce data to determine how to move forward first. We opened this unit in September 1 with my hire. So we're using local, state and the national employment data to determine where's our business work, where's our largest workforce need. And in our region, that's in health care. 

So then the idea around that is doing it in partnership with our regional health care providers. So I convened the regional health care providers and we have some very large providers to ask them, what are your health care needs and what training are you already providing? 

My long-term goal is to be able to provide [00:25:00] continuing education units and/or EW credit, which we can also provide through my unit, for training that employers are already providing their employees. So Providence Health is a great example. They have a great training program for their own employees. [00:25:15] My hope is that we can partner with them so that people can earn credit for prior learning if they do want to come in and earn their degree and/or maybe they want to earn a certificate and that certificate can be built in partnership with our regional employers because they are already experts in their field. [00:25:34] So, that's one of my long term goals, and those are called stackable credentials. We want to build those out in partnership with our school districts. That would be another example to help para educators be able to learn on the job and then apply that to what they get for credit when they come to Eastern Washington University to earn their degree as an educator. So I'm really excited and passionate about those projects. 

And the other one that I'm really excited about is a [00:26:00] partnership we've established between multiple different refugee-serving organizations, and the community colleges of Spokane, and then here at Eastern, to help our refugee and immigrant population be better employed.

[00:26:13] And you talked about that skills based hiring, be able to, you know, many folks are coming to us in Spokane, especially because we're a regional hub, but to be able to offer them credit and/or the certificate that they've earned in their country of origin, be able to honor that more readily than what's happening with our U.S. government, and they have to, you know, have the approval process at that level. So we're really trying to do some innovative things here in our region to help that population.

[00:26:41] Nicole Huesman: Wow. And how rewarding that I just, I can, I can just hear it in, in your voice, how it just, just is so rewarding in, in overall, or, or more generally helping people live better, happier lives. [00:27:00]

[00:27:00] Christi Harter: Exactly. Absolutely. And that's part of the skills-based hiring, um, evolution. That's not just here in the United States, but across the world and many countries beyond us are farther ahead of us. The Ukraine, for example, they've created a national federal registry for people's learning and employment records. So an example of that is what we already earn for our credentials when we earn our degrees. Those are credentials. And instead of me as the, you know, the person who's earned the credentials, I always have to ask for them from the organization, the institution that I've earned them from. The model is that you would house them in your own digital wallet and you have them readily available for your applications. 

But within [00:28:00] those credentials … so let's say I get a user design credential … I should also have a skillset lined out inside of those credentials. So that's kind of the, the movement towards skills-based hiring is a lot of people have, it's close to like 39, 40 million in the states that have some college, no degree. But they should have a skill set lined out with the college courses that they have taken, and/or the work that they've been doing for the last 10, 15 years. [00:28:27] And that's the idea around skills-based hiring is lining out what those skills are, having them verified, rather than just self attested, and then on the job description, lining out your job descriptions more along the lines of what the skill sets are versus the degrees, or in addition to the degrees.

[00:28:46] Nicole Huesman: Wow. So really building a far closer bridge between a, a, a college degree [00:29:00] or college experience and the, the real-world work, the work world really. It sounds like you’re really making building that bridge that much closer bridge between those two worlds and and easing that transition for people. [00:29:41] And, and then it being both a benefit for the student and also a benefit for the employer.

[00:29:54] Christi Harter: Yeah. Part of the push was because our workforce needs are so large [00:30:00] now. We have huge amounts of job openings that we aren't able to fill. And so employers are trying to find another way to get those positions filled, too, so they're more open to this model as well with the skills-based hiring practice.

[00:31:50] Nicole Huesman: With, you know, AI and all of the things that are evolving in our work world that this skills-based approach is really a is is very innovative in serving what our work world now needs.

[00:32:23] Christi Harter: That's the plan. And to be able to have people get hired, um, in a much more equitable manner is the other aspect of that. And my hope is like, let's build that. I mentioned it already in terms of partnering, you know, with our local and regional and national and international employers to help people earn credit, education credit, while they're in their positions. That's the earn and learn model that at least I feel, um, many organizations are willing and wanting to partner on that as well. 

And many, many businesses already provide their [00:33:00] employees X amount of dollars up to thousands to help with their own education. So just being able to do that more intentionally and quickly for people so that they can upscale, I think is also a huge initiative.

[00:33:15] My other pitch is that in Washington state, uh, last year we had 50 percent of our high school students not go into a post secondary institute. That means 50 percent are going directly, hopefully, into the workforce, and my hope is to be able to work with those young people to get them some type of certificate in that transition. [00:33:36] Maybe it's the summer transition. So that they have some type of credential when they're entering the workforce and connected to post secondary so they, you know, have that drive, need, understanding of what that feels like and can look like to help them with their future.

[00:33:51] Nicole Huesman: And this really is in lockstep with the fact that college is becoming so much more, uh, well, I mean, it goes without saying [00:34:00] really college is so expensive that it would seem that this would help in that way, too, that if you want to go directly into the work world, that you have support to be able to do that as well.

[00:34:18] Christi Harter: Absolutely. Yeah. And guidance. I just, I feel like sometimes, you know, our focus has been on degrees and, you know, I have my doctorate. I'm very passionate about education certificate, two other certificates, my principal's administrative credential, and then my career and technical education director's credential. [00:34:35] So that's like 13 and a half years in post secondary. I absolutely believe in it. I feel it can really help people change their lives for the better, but not everybody has that opportunity. 

And that's the piece that I was talking about of my own learning in the Peace Corps. We had maybe 10 percent of our high school students were female. [00:34:54] Because you had to pay to go to high school there. They call it post secondary. It's in the [00:35:00] English system. Up until, um, grade eight, education's free. And then you have to pay after that. I mean, period. It's not private education per se, but that's how the education system is structured there. 

So, you know, part of being able to reach out to those type of communities is another passion of mine because the opportunities are so minimal and education was one of the few good jobs there in that village. Otherwise, the majority of women would get up before I was ever up. So I'd say up by 6, 8 AM. Clean their house. And most of them had dirt floors, so they used like a brush to brush their floor and then they would either be cooking at that hour so that they could have food that they would sell on the side of the street, or they were going out to the field, most of them with a baby on their back, and a machete to work the fields. So I just think that opportunity for education can really have a [00:36:00] significant change in people's lives.

[00:36:03] Nicole Huesman: Yeah. And as you said, in equitable hiring and really leveling the field there. Wow. So Christi, you’ve just had amazing experiences and what amazing work. As you look back over all of your experiences, what do you think has been the most rewarding?

[00:36:30] Christi Harter: Oh man, it's all been so different and all been so challenging. I think that's the piece that I'm trying to learn is that work and life is challenging and how to be okay with that. You know, nobody really talks about that or teaches you that. In fact, when I was doing my principal's internship, I asked, because I left every Thursday from my school, and I was there all day on Thursdays to learn how to be a principal, I left almost every Thursday in [00:37:00] tears because the kids were going through so many challenges, and I couldn't take them home, and I couldn't keep them at school. [00:37:06] You know, just super significant challenges, and that was, you know, when did I do that? 2010? Yeah, you know, so the challenges have increased I feel. So just learning how to manage that. 

I asked my professor, you know, how do I deal with this stuff? How do I learn how to, how did I learn my own emotions around that? [00:37:32] He's like, well, you just can't teach that. So I asked the school counselor there three times before she finally told me, and she had been there 30 years, she said, Christi, you do everything that you can to help while you're at your job. And then when you go home, you have to put it away and you have to live your life outside of work. And I'm still trying to learn how to do that. But as far as the, I mean each one has provided some [00:38:00] type of joy and some type of challenge and a huge amount of learning in each of those aspects. And I think that's what I enjoy the most is that learning piece. Like I, don't ever want to be bored. [00:38:11] And I always want to be learning. So I don't have an answer [about] which has been the most rewarding.

[00:38:17] Nicole Huesman: Yeah. Wow. So what do you think have been some of the most significant lessons you've learned? What I'm hearing is the first one is, you know, learn how to leave work at work and, and, and have some sort of a boundary there if you can try to. Yeah.

[00:38:36] Christi Harter: Um, I think a big part of my learning has been communication. And again, that wasn't something I was taught. So I've been taught how to communicate better, especially when I get frustrated or mad about something. And, you know, there's a lot of inequities that I've been around and have, by being female, um, there's been loads of [00:39:00] opportunities to work with people that have been sexist as well as racist, um, elitist. And I'm really trying to work on my language skills so that I can speak what my concerns are without immediately closing down, because that's what I do when I get frustrated or mad or upset. So trying to work on that is a constant, a constant piece of what I'm learning how to do. 

Um, but also just that if something isn't working, do something about it, so that you can feel better one way or another, whether that's trying to fix what the problem is and/or find a different opportunity. And, you know, that's part of the reason why I wanted to get more education is because it gave me a broader opportunity for where I could go and what I could do and the money I wanted to make and what my lifestyle is [00:39:54] that I've been able to create for myself. So lots of significant learning. [00:40:00] And I saw my mom go to work every single day. She got up and got dressed up, Um, she was a business manager, like I said, at our schools for 47 years. I don't ever remember her calling in sick and she raised four girls and had a huge garden and we raised 200 chickens and had to clean all of them. And that was what our food was all year long, as well as everything out of the garden. So just her being a significant role model. I told you about my cousins in California leading a different life and showing me what that could look like. Um, and then just having really, really good people as my close core for friends.

[00:40:41] Nicole Huesman: Surrounding ourselves with, with, with good people, with great people that can support, can support us through our journey. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:40:52] Christi Harter: And different types of journeys and different types of friends, too. I've really, I’ve really embraced that as well.

[00:40:58] Nicole Huesman: Yeah. So true. So [00:41:00] true. Oh, gosh. So, you know, I know certainly my definition of success has changed over time. Um, you know, and, and I define it differently now than I did earlier in, in my life. Uh, I imagine the same is, is true for you. How, how would you define success?

[00:41:25] Christi Harter: What a great question. Oh, well, personally, my success would be if I could run three miles in the near future, by the end of the summer, because of an Achilles tendonitis issue that I've had for the last year. So success personally is just enjoying life. Like, you know, being okay with who you are, being connected to good people like we talked about, being able to know what you don't want and finding ways to not have to be a part of that. 

Professionally success for me is going to be how many people we can help [00:42:00] do what we we've been talking about, have a better life, have a better education, have access to education, um, on the timeframe that they have available. [00:42:10] So that's one of the things that really drives me is helping people, and helping people, you mentioned it, where they're at versus where we think they should be. So yeah, that to me will be success and, you know, great relationships here at work as well, I think, is really important because we spend, I spend more time at work during my, you know, during my days here, um, awake than I get to spend in my house awake, so that's really important the people that you work with and learning from them as well.

[00:48:42] Christi Harter: So what's your version of success? You said

[00:48:45] Nicole Huesman: oh wow.

[00:48:46] Christi Harter: your version of success? Um,

[00:48:50] Nicole Huesman: changed. Um, because I, Wow. You know, for me, I think it's about [00:49:00] connection and about how I can help, uh, and support other people, uh, and to make those around me, uh, to do what I can do to help them find their happiness and their fulfillment. Um, and, and, Likewise, uh, that then fulfills me. 

[00:50:31] Nicole Huesman: One of the reasons that I started She Lights the Way was that I felt like we needed to hear about each other's stories to lift each other up and to provide inspiration and empowerment.

[00:54:53] Nicole Huesman: That's a great segue into [00:55:00] what does She Lights the Way mean to you? When you hear that, what does that mean for you?

[00:55:07] Christi Harter: Well when we talked a while ago what I really appreciated and what you said and you kind of referenced it here a little bit is you're just trying to connect more people and help them better understand and better accept, you know, who they are and that your success doesn't have to be everybody else's success and there are a lot of different modes of success. So to me, it's that you referenced the diversity, equity, inclusion piece and being able to honor that and multiple different people's stories. 

[00:55:59] Nicole Huesman: [00:56:00] Thank you. I so, I so appreciate that. As we look forward, uh, what are you most excited about and where do you think, how do you think the field of education, uh, will, will evolve and, and what, what role is most important to you in, in, in, uh, being involved, uh, and, and really helping move that forward?

[00:56:33] Christi Harter: My hope with education and what excites me the most is the work that I'm currently doing with continuing education. To be able to give people the opportunity to have, um, an education in the area that they're interested in. And be able to use that to better upskill, um, get better employment, more gainful employment, and not, um, to do it within the timeframe that [00:57:00] works for them. 

If it works for them within a four year commitment, like the traditional motives, that's great. I would never trade that experience. As I talked about, you know, my closest friends are still those people that I played college basketball with and went to my math classes with, went to my education classes with.

[00:57:18] But in addition, in addition to that, I want to be able to provide people opportunity for educational supports that are nontraditional. And there's a lot of interest in that now, and doing that, like I said, in partnership with our business and industry and our education sectors.

[00:57:36] Nicole Huesman: I love that. It's, it's your way of lighting the way. Right?

[00:57:42] Christi Harter: Okay, I like that.

[00:57:43] Nicole Huesman: yeah. I love that. And helping others where they are and, and, uh, finding their, their paths in, in life, whether, like you said, whether that's traditional, uh, you know, looks, looks traditional, or it, [00:58:00] um, it, it falls outside of the traditional bounds, uh, but meeting them where they are and, um, and helping them, uh, along their paths. [00:58:09] I, I absolutely, you are doing such wonderful work and, and really amazing and, and impactful work. Uh, thank you.

[00:58:18]Christi Harter: Yeah, thank you. It was fun visiting with you. Thanks for this opportunity.