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Ben Chambers Staff Photo
Subjects Taught
English 12A, English 12B

Education

Denison University, Granville, OH - Bachelor of Arts in German; Minor: Psychology

Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, TX - Master of Counseling/Education



Experience

My wonderful wife Kimberly, exuberant son Kincaid, beautiful daughter Violet, and I currently live in Astoria,OR. This will be my fourth year with the Seaside District as an English teacher and my sixth as a Talent Search Adviser. We are thrilled to be on the Oregon coast and have enjoyed every moment since moving here in 2010.  

My career in education began in 2001 as an English Language Teaching Assistant in Austria. After two fruitful years there, I moved to Chicago, IL, and worked as a Site Manager for Sylvan After-school Tutoring programs. I transferred with that position to Los Angeles for a following year. With an itch to pursue love and learning, I packed again in 2006 for San Antonio, TX,where I taught English for four years and earned a Masters in Counseling from Our Lady of the Lake University. This prompted a career shift and yet another move, to Astoria, OR, as a Talent Search Adviser with Clatsop Community College's Talent Search program.

Presently I have the unique opportunity to teach half days and serve as a college/career counselor for half the day. It's a gig that seems too good to be true, so I'll hold onto it as long as the world allows...



Bio

I grew up an only child in the scenic Mississippi River valley of rural, Buffalo City, Wisconsin. Yup. After a fairly uneventful upbringing of baseball, wrestling, golf, snowboarding and general adolescent tomfoolery, I enrolled at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, to broaden my limited horizons. During my junior year at Denison, I studied a semester at Justus-Liebig Universitat in Giessen, Germany. This experience expanded my world view and led to two ensuing years of my teaching English in Austria, where I soaked up Austrian culture and the German language; and I covered a good portion of Alpen terrain on my snowboard. Living abroad instilled in me an immense appreciation for diversity and the uniqueness our own vast country.

Upon return to the US in 2003 I made a concerted effort to see and appreciate many of the sights that make the United States so eclectic. After a brief stint in Minneapolis, I sauntered to Chicago where I began taking improv classes and performing stand up comedy. The next, natural and mindless step was to pursue comedy in Los Angeles. After limited gumption and the magnetic pull of my better-half, I delved into Texan culture in San Antonio for five years. It was hot there. Hot.

The variety of it all somewhat explains how we landed in the beautiful state of Oregon, where the Ocean is relentless, the air is temperate, the coffee is lauded, the mountains are formidable, the music is aplenty, and life is grand.  Pleased to meet you...