In July 2004 Kathryn was bestowed a 50 Ton United States Coast Guard Captain's License.

After sailing for many years, and logging the days, Kathryn passed the exams and submitted her time to the U.S. Coast Guard. The 50 Ton license means that she can take an unlimited number of passengers on vessels rating under 50 Tons (that relates to your typical Dive or Whale Watching vessel.) for pay. Think of an airline captain...this would be a maritime parrallel Captain. She is also licensed for Auxiliary Sail and Commercial Assistance Towing.

July 2004 - Kathy's team wins the Overall honors of the Women At The Helm Regatta. The Regatta was sailed aboard the vessel Can 2, a Jeaneau Sunfast 37. Dominating two classes, 10 entrants, the team took 4 First Places and 1 Fourth Place to take the Regatta. The "WAH" was sailed in tandem with the Women on the Water, "WOW", Regatta, won in a tightly contested class by the Lisa Hackenberg Team, on a warm breezy weekend off of Marina del Rey, CA.

Photo
Lisa on the left holding the Rober Wilson Women On The Water Perpetual Trophy, and Kathy on the right holding the Women's Sailing Association Women At the Helm Perpetual Trophy.

Point One: Kathryn is passionate. When something interests her, her passion for it will drive her to learn everything she can about it to become the best she can be.

Kathryn was born in Southern California. When she was 2 years old, her parents joined the beach club Club Del Mar in Santa Monica. It became her parents' favorite "babysitter" for Kathryn and her brother Rick, instilling the love of the ocean in them from very early on. SCUBA became their favorite pastime. Rick and Kathy hold the very first Los Angeles County Junior SCUBA Diver Certifications. They achieved NAUI Advanced Diver Certification in 1970.

Pencils, paints, and clay proved to be more interesting to Kathy than Math or English. Her artistic interests are what got her through school, even through Spanish class! She spent her time drawing a mural on the wall for the instructor instead of learning the language (got a B for that!). OK..so she is sorry she did that now.... Her hard work and extra studies allowed her to graduate from high school a semester early and move onto Junior College where she could take more art courses.

College provided such a plethora of great things to learn. Sailing was one of the best things college had to offer, so thought Kathy. It was also the reason she didn't graduate until the year 2000! If you skip class to go sailing...you don't graduate! Sailing is still one of Kathy's greatest loves. She holds a 50 ton United States Coast Guard civilian Captain's License and sailing instructor certifications. From a cabinet full of trophies from sailboat racing in the local circuit, running a junior sailing program at her yacht club, to teaching at a local sailing school, Kathy has shared her love of the sport.

At college, besides pencils, paints, and clay, Kathy got her hands on silver. At first she didn't like how hard it was to manipulate. After all, clay is so easy to push around. The second class offered in the Jewelry/Metalsmithing curriculum at California State University Long Beach included the use of wax for designing jewelry. Kathy fell in love with the medium and dedicated the next 20+ years to designing and manufacturing jewelry. Of course gold became the meduim of choice in the professional world.

Her creation, the Treasure Beach Company, became known for it's exquisitely detailed custom handcrafted nautical jewelry. Kathy had wholesale and retail customers from Alaska to the Carribean Islands. Five jewelers worked with Kathy to produce over 400 designs for her jewelry company. After 25 years the sales representative got robbed two times in a year and a half she lost her entire inventory twice. The second loss broke her heart and her passion for the industry. Kathy needed a new career.

An offer to provide web site graphics for the UCLA Law School Admissions Web Site proved to be the door that opened for Kathy. She attended UCLA Extension to learn new skills to provide the graphics. It was so much fun, she devoted three and a half years of study in the program to receive the Computer Graphics Certificate from UCLA Extension.

When she completed the program, with a specialty in animation, Kathy was offered to teach her new skills at a local private college. She taught After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and video production. She has also taught Photoshop at Otis College of Art and Design Extension. One of her first freelance animation jobs came from her Emmey Award winning After Effects professor. He was very impressed with her skills, and they worked together to produce 8 animations for Sanwa Bank over a course of a two week period. The word sleep did not factor into the production schedule.

While teaching at the colleges, Kathy became aware that holding her Bachelor of Arts degree would be advantageous. She returned to CSULB and completed the five classes that remained. While she was on an educational "sprint" she obtained her Master of Arts in Educational Technology from Pepperdine University. Kathy attended her three college graduations within 16 months.

Kathryn's pattern of teaching after "learning opportunities" continues. Pepperdine University's Graduate School of Education and Psychology Master of Arts in Education with Teaching Credential program hires Kathryn as an adjunct faculty member four times a year to guide the incoming students through their Technology Orientation Camps. This is a one day program that prepares the student with the technical knowledge to bring the computer into their classroom and into their learning experience.