Carlene Tausinga

Background

About Carlene Tausinga

Talking about myself is my least favorite thing to do, so let’s talk about Charles Darwin first. In Darwin's autobiography, he spoke about how he wasn’t some supernatural genius. His memory was like a child’s, his math skills were average, and he didn’t "think" like a philosopher. Maybe he was being humble, but I believe what made him stellar and remarkable was his ability to “notice things which easily escape attention, and observe them carefully.” In 8th grade, I was the President of the Environment Club. Not because I was elected, but because nobody else wanted the role. In all honesty, I had no aspirations to be an environmentalist, nor was I recycling my plastic bottles at the time. All I wanted was for my 8th grade year to be impactful. So, I asked my ASB teacher if I could host a Recycled Fashion Show. For the next three months, I was loud and proud about a movement I knew very little about. I created guidelines to inspire and spark creativity in students’ learning. I reached out to local stores with proposals for recycled material donations and highlighted their impact on the Recycled Fashion Show’s mission. Some days, I had a blast making hand-made flyers and sticking them on every door on campus. I asked my cousin to be the DJ (who was also a 8th grader!), and I even convinced our Principal to let the fashion show be the last period of the day. While my committee focused on the fun and creativity (which I absolutely loved!), my mind was always drawn to the big and small moving pieces that were often overlooked. I loved every single second of it. At 13, I already felt a deep love for collaboration, communication, interactions. Since then, I’ve learned a few more things about my “love language,” and I’ll end with this: Knowing the right person to do a job you can’t do, allows you to do YOUR job (and be an absolute boss at it)! People trusted in your hands, make the world a better place. The one constant behind every project, is you. The return of investment of showing up for yourself first, is a better child, sibling, friend and partner.