Justin

I’m Justin and it’s nice to meet you. I was born and raised in California, and I moved up to Oregon at the end of 2016. I lived in Eastern Oregon for a year in a small town and then moved to Portland. I just recently moved again to Beaverton this month and I’m thoroughly enjoying the nice mix of small-town vibes Beaverton has, even though it’s part of the Portland Metro area.

I graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor’s degree in English and I spent a few years teaching English as a foreign language to adult learners in California. I don’t speak any other languages fluently, but I have a very basic understanding of Japanese mainly because of my interest in anime and manga. Anyway, I worked in education administration and then worked multiple odd jobs here in Oregon to survive.

I am excited to join ARISE Mentors, where our #1 goal is to help individuals who experience I/DD challenges, acquire the skills needed to increase or maintain their own IN-dependence. I am excited to do this through teaching, mentoring, and advocating WITH individuals, while having an opportunity to work with, and be a part of their team, to accomplish THEIR goals. I feel like this opportunity is a great calling, and I’m excited to pursue it.

I enjoy painting both with traditional paints and sumi ink. I use the same tools as calligraphers who paint characters in Chinese and Japanese, but my style is fairly unique. It’s also very inexpensive and fun to do!

Other hobbies I have are listening to a wide variety of music, pencil drawing, and nature photography. I love to deep dive into learning and discussing new topics that interest me. One of those deep dives is “Magic the Gathering”; which is the original trading card game (think Yu-Gi-Oh! Or Pokémon). I’ve played the game for 25 years now and I still love it. If you’re interested in learning how to play or find a playgroup and focus on social skills in a group setting, I’d be happy to assist you.