Chemeketa Voices

Lightning in a Bottle:
Lorna TenEyck

Sudoku and quilting are more than hobbies for Chemeketa Community College instructor Lorna TenEyck, they're practical applications of the subject she's chosen to teach: math.

“In quilting, we create large images out of small pieces and we need to know how those pieces come together to create something else. Completing a Sudoku puzzle is all about logic, another form of math,” said TenEyck.

Students, peers and friends all roll their eyes when they find out TenEyck teaches math. She knows the feeling.  Becoming a teacher - much less a math teacher - was never what she envisioned as her career.

TenEyck grew up the daughter of a math teacher in Yonkers, New York, and decided early on it was not what she wanted to do with her life.

When she enrolled in college she chose anthropology as a major, but took a lot of computer science courses while working on a minor in math. After earning her degree, she went to work as a computer programmer for Primerica.

Restlessness got the best of her, though, and, within a few years, TenEyck decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in forensic anthropology. The field combined everything she’d done up to that point.

“There was anatomy and biology, math and even some computer modeling. There were surprising parallels,” she said.

She became a teaching assistant soon after starting her coursework at Indiana University, but tried to keep her role as an educator at arm's length. She marvels at how quickly she came to love her time spent at the front of the classroom.

TenEyck pulled up stakes in Indiana and returned to New York to earn a master’s degree in math, a subject she knew a lot about despite herself. There was a time when she would have been among the first to roll her eyes at the very mention of math.

“I always did well at math, but I felt it was because I had my father around to help. It took me a while to realize it was something I was good at on my own,” she said.

Once she accepted her skills in the subject, TenEyck saw the fundamentals of math everywhere. Someone can achieve the same high from solving a math problem as they can by filling in the last blank square in a Sudoku puzzle, she said. It's a bit like catching lightning in a bottle.

“It’s addictive, when you work at something and work at it and, then, finally, there’s an ‘A-ha’ moment and you get it,” she said. “Being able to put a single puzzle or math problem to bed gives us a feeling of accomplishment.”

She taught first at a yeshiva and then at a public high school. On weekends, she taught college math to women returning to school or seeking additional degrees.

As she became more embroiled in the education scene, she began working on projects advancing the roles of women in education. TenEyck helped assemble a mobile collection of gender equity resources that traveled to schools throughout the New York region and traveled to China to participate in the 4th Annual NGO Women’s Conference, which brought together female educators from throughout the world.

TenEyck had visited relatives in Oregon on several occasions and hoped she would one day be able to retire here. When her husband, an Oregon native, got the chance to return to the area, TenEyck was a willing participant in the move.

She drove out the summer of 2001 with her daughter and her dog, but without a job or prospect of one. She applied to the Salem-Keizer School District and Chemeketa, among other schools and colleges, but it was Chemeketa that stole her heart.

“The people here are so amazing. It’s humbling to be in an environment where everyone was a star in their previous careers. They all bring so much to the table and have so much to offer,” said TenEyck. “I knew that if I could work with this group it would be like dying and going to heaven.” To get a foot in the door, she began teaching part time, a year later a full-time position in the faculty opened up.

Each new group she teaches is a challenge because she likes being able to put her finger on the pulse of a group. Some classes are animated, some are funny, some are shy. It’s a game she’s become adept at. When asked to describe the Chemeketa community, TenEyck’s answer is quick but heartfelt.

Eager.

It’s why she fits right in.

By Eric A. Howald. Have a great Chemeketa story? Send us an e-mail.

Updated May 7, 2008 by Marketing and Student Recruitment.