Damon Atkins, Class of 1995

CURRENT LOCATION:

Champaign, IL

FAMILY LIFE:

Single

EDUCATION:

After graduation I attended Tompkins Cortland Community College in Ithaca, NY. When I ran out of money and pretty much failed some classes I moved to Santa Barbara, CA in the summer of 1996.

During that summer and fall I played football for Santa Barbara City College. Also, I attended the College of the Canyons Community College in the spring, so I could attend classes and work to save money for rent in Santa Barbara. While at SBCC I received the defensive lineman of the year award and the 2nd team Western State Conference defensive award.

After TCCC, SBCC and COC I was accepted to The University of Arizona in the fall of 1998. While in Tucson, AZ I met my wonderful and current girlfriend, Ana Gonzalez, and attended classes at Pima Community College and the U of A. After four community colleges, one university and five and a half years (December 2000) I received my Bachelor of Science in Business Marketing from The University of Arizona! Go Wildcats!

Through all of this higher education I took three trips to Europe including a stop in northern Africa, Mexico and Canada.

EMPLOYMENT:

While at the University of Arizona I did an internship with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and worked at Hobbytown USA. After graduation I worked for Mayan Enterprises in Merida, Mexico setting up the exportation side of the company. September 11th hit and that came to a halt.

On September 11th I was in Miami, Fl getting ready for my flight from Miami to Los Angeles, when on the news I witnessed the second attack on the World Trade Centers, live. After being stranded in Miami for a week at my friend's hacienda on Hybiscus Island, (Paradise) I was able to make it back to LA.

The next chapter in my work history was a trip to Colorado to visit my dad and brother, Dave. While in Denver, CO I stumbled upon a job at Vail Associates that gave me a free season pass and a fun job. Over the winter of 2001/2002 I snowboarded around 30 days in Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone and Beaver Creek with my friends. After the ski season I moved back to Tucson, AZ to be with my girlfriend and to find a job.

After six months and many, many interviews I had no luck finding a job. While at Hobbytown USA, Tucson, AZ, I purchased from, Horizon Hobby, Inc., a quality distributor in the hobby industry. After getting a response from a resume I sent out, I flew to Illinois to interview. The interview was in August and was hired in early October. Horizon Hobby hired me to be an International Sales Representative, which is one of my dream jobs.

The move from Arizona to Illinois was a long trip through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and across the plains of Kansas. Today is October 18, 2002 and I just completed the 3rd day of my new job and I love it.

This job will allow me to do business in the hobby industry and to travel internationally.

I am looking forward to seeing the class of 1995 in 2005.

HOBBIES AND INTERESTS:

Right now I am into watching football, playing roller hockey, fantasy football and traveling.

THE WEB:

My favorite Web sites are:
• snow.com;

• horizonhobby.com;

• pricegrabber.com;

• ebay.com;

  and

• mazdaspeed.com;

Send Damron a note

Last Updated: October, 2002

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