Teaching Testimonials

Letter to Justine (Cubbage) tenZeldam
from Former Student
It was 1990, I was in my early 20’s and needing some change in my life and a career. I stumbled across CLC. You
were my teacher. You not only taught me MS DOS, WordPerfect, Lotus 123 and dBase III, you really influenced
me. The way you taught the class really made an impression. We started out with MS DOS. I didn’t know anything
about computers or how they worked. You were able to teach what an OS is and how to use it in an applicable way,
that’s hard to do with an OS to folks that don’t know anything about computers. You showed great patience, clear
communication and way of explaining things to the class that didn’t make us feel uneasy about asking questions.
I don’t know if you know this or not but I eventually started teaching that class at CLC. After I graduated they hired
me as a TA. I was “TA’ing” the DOS class for the lady they hired after you left. It wasn’t long before everyone
realized she was not a good teacher. Her method consisted of 3 hours lecture in a classroom and 1 hour in the lab
to try what she just lectured about. She was using a horrible DOS reference book that had canned questions and
answers in the back. The students were not learning and they started complaining to David the Director of
Education. He fired her and asked me if I could teach the class.
That’s when I went into “Mimic Justine Mode” J I had the students forget about the reference book they were using
and started teaching lessons out of the book you used. I wrote every lesson on the board and taught the entire time
in the lab only moving as fast as the slowest student. The results were drastically different from the other teacher.
They all learned and understood DOS. By the end they all were writing batch files, editing config.sys files and doing
advanced DOS things. I had great reviews I lasted about a year there and moved on. When I left, I had computer
skills and experience on my resume. BTW, you also taught me how to write a great resume.
I was able to spring board that into a career that I have today. I landed at Apple Computer and stayed there for 8
years. I traveled all over the country working various events and conferences. I even moved to Austin Texas for a
year to kick off 1-800-SOS-APPL. I left Apple and took a job at UCSC where I’m at today, 12 years working in the IT
department. Of course I continued my education and technical training to adapt with the evolving tech world as well
as Macintosh skills. When I’m 55 I will be able to retire with full benefits for my wife and myself.
I share all this history with you because I truly feel you made such an impression on me that it lasted and made a
difference in my life. If I’ve never told you before, I will tell you now, THANK YOU! You were able to get my attention
at a time in my life when that was hard to do.
Probably more memory lane than you meant but I really wanted you to know how you helped change my life. I often
wonder if any of my students from CLC used anything I taught them in their career or applied the skills in any other
way. I know I don’t use DOS, WordPerfect, Lotus or dBase anymore but I use the communication skills, patience
and ability to keep someone engaged long enough to learn something. Those are skills that help no matter what
you do.
I hope all is well in your life. The last time I talked to you, you were moving somewhere in the Sierra’s and starting
your own consulting business. I think it was called Mountain Computers or something like that. I hope you are
happy, healthy and wish you nothing but the best.
Chris J. 

Santa Cruz, CA