WELCOME TO BENZIE COUNTY CENTRAL SCHOOLS FEATURED FRIDAY ALUMNI. Today, we would like to recognize Class of 1992 graduate, Ginger Heyn (Torresan).
Ginger was kind enough to share this with us. "After I graduated in 1992, I attended Baker College in
Cadillac. When my car died,I had to come
up with a better plan in order to continue going to school. At the time, Baker College only had two
schools with dorms – Muskegon and Flint, Michigan. I chose Flint. Growing up in downtown Beulah did not prepare
me for the cultural diversity I was to experience when I arrived. Flint was a complete culture shock. It was a big city and had a vast majority of
different ethnicities. I stayed there
for two and a half years majoring in Business Management and Accounting.
After an almost near tragedy, I needed to come home and help
my mom take care of some family issues.
I enrolled at Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City and
continued to attend business classes.
Working a full time and part time job plus going to school full time
eventually got the better of me plus my student loan bills were climbing to an
alarming rate. What I hadn’t realized
when I left for Baker College was their tuition was three times higher than our
local college. I was 20 years old and
had accumulated $20,000 in debt that I wasn’t sure how I was going to
repay. Attending NMC allowed me more
access to grants and was a third of the cost but I was also struggling with
whether or not I wanted to go into business management. I needed to take a step back and reevaluate
my life and school.
While giving school a break, I ran into an old acquaintance
of mine from school and we started hanging out around town; running into each
other often. Eventually we decided to go
on a date. John Heyn (class of 1990) and I had our first date at the Cedar
Polka Fest in 1995; we have been together ever since.
I re enrolled in college classes in the winter for the winter
of 1998 but I was undecided on what I wanted to pursue as a career – teaching
or nursing. I knew if I returned to NMC,
I could get my basic education out of the way and decide on a career path along
the way then transfer to the newly build University Center. A month before I was to start school I
discovered that John and I were expecting a child. This was definitely a game changer. My husband wanted me to be a stay at home
mom. This meant nursing was out and I
figured by the time the child was in kindergarten I could graduate and
hopefully find a teaching job. So
teaching was the career path I chose.
I was still working as a secretary while I was pregnant and
started taking a couple of classes at night and online. At six months pregnant I had to quit my job
and go on bed rest. I could still attend
my night class but sitting for eight hours a day, five days a week could cause
harm to me and the baby boy I carried. I
was showing signs of Preeclampsia which if not treated with caution could cause
me to have a stroke and die. In the
meantime, my husband decided to start building his own general contracting
company.
In August of 1999, we had a happy, healthy baby boy Hunter
J. Roger Heyn (class of 2018). As he
grew up he attended Lake Ann Elementary and then Benzie Middle School and High
school. I graduated in 2005, Cum Laude
from Ferris State University in Traverse City with a Bachelor of Science in
Business Education with minors in Career Technology and Social Studies. I
started substitute teaching at Benzie Central Middle and High School right
away. I spent the next ten years there
and I was there almost every day during the school year. I eventually left to work for the Grand
Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Tribal School for two years. While teaching I started working on my
master’s degree at Grand Valley State University with an emphasis on English
earning a certification in English Education.
I decided to get out of teaching and landed a position as an
Administrative Assistant for Coldwell Banker Schmidt Realtors. I do everything from answer the phone to
processing paperwork to training agents how to be successful. I have been here for three years and have no
intention to go anywhere else.
My advice to kids in school is no matter where you come from
or what situation you find yourself in, it is up to you which path you choose
to take."
Ginger, we are #OneBENZIE proud of your determination. You know how Mrs. Crossman feels...like, love and share!
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