Bree Street Walsh – Class of 2000
Director of Recruitment, isgSearch, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I graduated from East Burke in 2000. It was the year that, all my life, felt like the year that I would find ultimate success! It was the turning of the century. Y2K! How exciting! I was stoked about it since the day that I received a yellow "Smoke Free Class of 2000" t-shirt when I was in kindergarten.
I also grew up with the dream of graduating from East Burke High School, even though, at the time, I was attending Salem Elementary School down the road. But my dad, Farrell Street, was a biology teacher at East Burke and a star wrestling coach to boot. I would attend practices with him and pass out orange wedges and water to the team. The gym looked so big; the high schoolers, so tall. It was a dream to have a PE class in that gym for me. And then it happened. We moved to Valdese. Dad was no longer working in the school system, but that didn't change my excitement level to attend EBHS.
And, lo, and behold, I graduated smoke free in the year 2000!
I had the most amazing high school experience. When you're 40 (me), you find yourself sitting and talking to friends who grew up in different communities, different states, and - in my case - different countries. I love being able to reminisce about my four years at East Burke and remember everything fondly. My friends. The staff. The teachers. And for me, the sports! I only actually played soccer and ran track, but my week was defined by sporting events that I could attend with my friends. I speak of it now, to people who can't wrap their head around the kind of spirit our high school has. It's truly incomparable. Football and basketball games are something I truly miss.
I attended Mars Hill University from 2000 to 2004, just up the mountain, and graduated with a major in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing and double majors in Religion and Spanish. Anyone who ever asked me what I wanted to do with the plethora of degrees, I would joke and say that I wanted to sell Bibles in Mexico. Instead of that career path, I graduated in 2004 and I began my first job as a Technical Recruiter soon after. I didn't even know a job like this existed. A chance for me to put my people skills, marketing concentration, and loud mouth to work all at once?! Sign me up! I spent my days searching for candidates for high level IT positions in the banks in Charlotte, NC, for the first year and then moved to Toronto, Ontario. I continued my career at a brand new start up IT recruitment agency and spent fourteen years there. And here we are. 2022. I'm now a Director of Recruitment at a different agency, isgSearch, hiring, training, mentoring and leading a team of thirty people. Some come in looking for a brand new job out of college, just like me. It's the coolest thing ever to see my doe-eyed self in folks coming in where I have an opportunity to help mold and make something of their work experience and future.
If you would have asked me in 2000 where I'd end up, I could have probably guessed somewhere far away from Valdese, NC. A bigger gym than the one that I watched so many basketball games. And taller people than the high school wrestling team that I sat in awe of as just a wee girl. But if you ask me today, 22 years later, I'd just like to be back. My future plans include moving back to NC and continuing my career in IT staffing with my family in the next few years. It's time to make them a WILD BUNCH.
I graduated from East Burke in 2000. It was the year that, all my life, felt like the year that I would find ultimate success! It was the turning of the century. Y2K! How exciting! I was stoked about it since the day that I received a yellow "Smoke Free Class of 2000" t-shirt when I was in kindergarten.
I had the most amazing high school experience. When you're 40 (me), you find yourself sitting and talking to friends who grew up in different communities, different states, and - in my case - different countries. I love being able to reminisce about my four years at East Burke and remember everything fondly. My friends. The staff. The teachers. And for me, the sports! I only actually played soccer and ran track, but my week was defined by sporting events that I could attend with my friends. I speak of it now, to people who can't wrap their head around the kind of spirit our high school has. It's truly incomparable. Football and basketball games are something I truly miss.
I attended Mars Hill University from 2000 to 2004, just up the mountain, and graduated with a major in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing and double majors in Religion and Spanish. Anyone who ever asked me what I wanted to do with the plethora of degrees, I would joke and say that I wanted to sell Bibles in Mexico. Instead of that career path, I graduated in 2004 and I began my first job as a Technical Recruiter soon after. I didn't even know a job like this existed. A chance for me to put my people skills, marketing concentration, and loud mouth to work all at once?! Sign me up! I spent my days searching for candidates for high level IT positions in the banks in Charlotte, NC, for the first year and then moved to Toronto, Ontario. I continued my career at a brand new start up IT recruitment agency and spent fourteen years there. And here we are. 2022. I'm now a Director of Recruitment at a different agency, isgSearch, hiring, training, mentoring and leading a team of thirty people. Some come in looking for a brand new job out of college, just like me. It's the coolest thing ever to see my doe-eyed self in folks coming in where I have an opportunity to help mold and make something of their work experience and future.
