Secondary Life Skills Special Ed Teacher

*Teaches necessary skills to students who have academic, social, and communication needs

Neoma came to Corbett High School in 2024 after teaching Special Education for nine years in the Estacada School District and four years in the Reynolds School District. She graduated from Clackamas High School and earned a Bachelor's degree in English Literature and a Master's in Education from Portland State University.

Both she and her husband have lived in Oregon their entire lives and in the same East Gresham home for the last 22 years! Their son is 19, graduated from Gresham High School, and now attends Mt. Hood Community College. Their daughter is 20, just got married, and is attending BYU in Rexburg, Idaho. They have three grown Labrador Retrievers in their household, and they are all related, each from a different generation!

Neoma loves Corbett and has for many years, as she and her family have driven through and hiked in the Gorge numerous times over the years. One of the first dates she went on with her husband was to Crown Point, and he later proposed during a hike to Latourell Falls. Their daughter and husband got engaged at Angel's Rest. Neoma says she has enjoyed many parks in the Gorge, splashed under numerous waterfalls, and scrambled over log jams at Oneonta. She said she loves her drives into Corbett for work because it is always so peaceful and beautiful.

When she is not working, Neoma loves genealogy and has learned a great deal about her and her husband's family over the years. One interesting family history detail is that her husband's name, Ramseyer, is common in Germany, and hails from a village in Alsace-Lorraine, an area near the border of Germany and France. In documenting their travels to the United States, some ancestors in the same village have claimed to be from France and some from Germany, only because the borders between the two countries have shifted over the years! Her mom was a single mom who was a school teacher and she still lives locally. Another hobby Neoma picked up from her mom is sewing. At age 10 she began sewing blankets and clothing and still does today. One of her specialty items? A skirt made out of neckties!

Neoma is happy to be teaching in Corbett and is excited to get to know her students and the staff even better in the days ahead. In the photo, Neoma is standing under the Corbett cardinal that her daughter painted on the classroom wall for her and her students to enjoy.

Interview with Jacqueline Brandow by Michelle Carter Smith

• I work with my Corbett team to implement the grant. There are a lot of rules that are not necessarily intuitive but must be adhered to. The grant funder, the US Department of Education, has funded a handful of School-Based Mental Health grants in Oregon. The grant aims to address student mental health needs by providing more mental health service providers, and more providers from diverse backgrounds to retain the SBMH staff.
• The SBMH team is working hard to provide mental health services for any student at Corbett who needs support. I supervise these mental health professionals and look for ways to promote and maintain a thriving mental health team.
• To best meet the needs of all students at any grade level during different points of time in a student's academic journey, mental health providers at Corbett aim to employ a school-wide systematic approach called a tiered system of support/s. My part in helping my Corbett team build and maintain this approach allows me to learn, plan, and implement systems where wellness is at the forefront and can support the academic load for kids.

Jacque was born in Portland, Oregon, and was an only child. Jacque spent her childhood living in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. She loved being outdoors as much as possible and greatly enjoyed visiting her aunt's farm with her cousins. Jacque says she was always interested in what her older cousins were doing and catching them up on her adventures when she was not at the farm. These were the best and longest days; riding horses, training farm animals to do fun tricks, running barefoot through the sprinklers, and eating fresh fruit from the trees. She attended several different schools while growing up and this allowed her to become adaptable. She learned how to get along with several different types of kids and adapt to many different learning situations. At age 16,

Jacque began to waitress and was also a demo girl at Costco. She graduated at age 17 with a state diploma after finishing at an alternative high school. Next, Jacque got a job as a meat wrapper, and with the guidance of the meat department manager, she was mentored through a 2-year apprenticeship program to become a journeyman meat wrapper. She enjoyed the fast-paced work, it paid well and provided full benefits. During this time, Jacque also attended college and earned an associate's degree from Skagit Valley Community College and used that to transfer to Western Washington University. She had to give up meat wrapping and go back to waitressing because the classes needed for a bachelor's degree at Western were during the day, the same as the meat department hours. Jacque earned her bachelor's degree in psychology and minored in childhood development. In 1996, Jacque gave birth to fraternal twin girls, Calloway and Morgan. When they were toddlers, Jacque earned her master's degree from Heritage University in Toppenish, WA. The girls were raised in Eastern Washington and now both live in Oregon. Jacque is close with her daughters and they communicate almost on a daily basis. In 2014, when her daughters went off to college, Jacque began work on her doctoral degree. She wanted to investigate foster kids who are successful in college despite having faced adversity. She is currently working on her dissertation and reconnecting at Lewis and Clark College. She began working in the Corbett School District in late February 2024 after seeing a job opening on the internet. She feels she was handed a gift! She said she has high expectations of herself and others and sees a great future ahead. Currently living in Portland, she has two labs and loves to hike, walk, and run with them. She also is a downhill skier and enjoys kayaking.

Interview with Debbie Heltborg by Michelle Carter Smith

Special Education Assistant at CAPS

Milk River, Alberta, Canada was Debbie's place of birth and she was one of seven children born to her parents. There were TWO sets of twins in the family! Debbie was the third child and is not a twin. The first set of twins were born just after her, and seven years later, another set of twins were born. The funny thing is, Debbie's mom was told she would not ever be able to conceive. There are 11 years between the oldest and the youngest and at one point, there were five children in the house under the age of four. Debbie's mom stayed home full-time until all the kids were in school. Her dad was a customs broker, and her mom joined him as a customs broker when she went back to work. Both parents have now passed.

It was a busy childhood for Debbie as she lived with her family in a small farming community of about 500, located near the U.S. border. Some of her classmates traveled as far as 70 miles EACH way to attend school. All of the "country kids" had a plan in place to stay with one of the "city families" if the weather did not permit them to travel back home after school. Debbie was a "city kid" who attended the same school from grade 1-9, then traveled 15 miles to attend the local high school. Debbie played softball, basketball and also ran track and field throughout her childhood. She describes herself as extremely shy and quiet as a child and says she loved to be at home, cooking, cleaning, baking, reading books and helping her mom with what was needed. Her first job at age 10 was delivering newspapers both in Canada and just across the border in Sweetgrass, Montana. Debbie says she literally walked across the border to do her entire route, thinking nothing of the responsibility or the distance. Debbie loved the outdoors as a child and still does today. She has always been a hard worker, taking on numerous jobs in her youth. She babysat, did her newspaper deliveries, cleaned houses, waitressed, did yard work, etc. After graduating high school, she then attended college in Rexburg, Idaho for two years, earning an associate's degree in arts and sciences. Just before graduation, she attended a community celebration and met her future husband. He asked her to dance on a bet, and the rest is history! This year they will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. After marrying, they moved back to the Portland Area where her husband Jeff was finishing school. Debbie did not have a work visa, so was supporting Jeff with his work and school and was doing volunteer work. After the visa arrived, Debbie got a job doing administrative work for various companies. She later worked for Legacy Children's Hospital as an administrative assistant for 17 years. Before taking the hospital position, she went back to school to pursue a degree in Elementary Education. She realized that was not the path she wanted. In 2000, she gave birth to her only child, a son named Seth. When Seth was four years old, Debbie decided to go part-time with work. She began working at home doing medical transcription as well as on-call work for various other things. In 2011, Debbie decided to work as an administrative/financial assistant for the church that they attended. In 2017, they decided to open a restaurant called Killer Burger. Things went great for several years and then Jeff's job as a respiratory therapist was keeping him too busy and so they sold the restaurant. 

In 2022, Debbie began working for the Corbett School District. She was yearning to work for a school and be close to their Corbett home. They had built a home in Corbett in 2008 and Seth graduated from Corbett High in 2018. Debbie was hired as a special education assistant and has been with the district ever since. She has worked both at CAPS and the high school and now she is back at CAPS. She feels very blessed to have the opportunity to work with the kids in the special education program. 

Debbie and Jeff love being in the outdoors and enjoy kayaking, hiking, golfing, biking and traveling. They are considering a trip to Iceland and Ireland this year to celebrate 60/40. Her birthday and their anniversary!