{"id":75028,"date":"2025-06-15T08:30:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T15:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=75028"},"modified":"2025-06-11T13:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T20:31:34","slug":"humans-of-nau-patti-pastor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/humans-of-nau-patti-pastor\/","title":{"rendered":"Humans of NAU: Patti Pastor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patti Pastor<\/span><\/b> recently returned to NAU with a host of potential future Lumberjacks as part of Flagstaff Unified School District\u2019s FUSD Day at NAU. It\u2019s a particularly fun day in the life of Pastor, an NAU alum who now is the career exploration coordinator at the local school district. Learn more about the connection she creates between K-12 students and NAU.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What brought you to NAU?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2016, I was teaching full time and wanted to improve my teaching skills and grow my knowledge of <\/span>career and technical education<\/span>. I graduated with my master\u2019s in career and technical education with distinction in 2016.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Patti
Pastor at a CTE event. Top photo: Pastor and friends at the U.S. Women’s National Team at the She Believes Cup in February at State Farm Stadium.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why did you come to Flagstaff?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I moved to Flagstaff in 1982 after marrying the love of my life.\u202fAs a family, we owned and operated Roma Pizza from 1980-2004.\u202fI was hit by a drunk driver and suffered a closed head injury that left me with vertigo and some neurological challenges that were debilitating. After a couple of years of vocational rehabilitation, most of the debilitating challenges were minimal, and I began my teaching career.\u202fI was truly blessed to return to work.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell me about your job and what a day in your work life is like.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My current position is career exploration coordinator, which encompasses career exploration for grades six to 12 and workforce development for juniors and seniors in our high schools.\u202fMany of my days are spent arranging for guest speakers to come to our campuses and talk about their careers. I work with representatives from business, \u00a0industry and education to arrange for facility and campus tours \u00a0so our students can envision what a career path might look like for them.\u202fSome students take a gap year utilizing the certifications they have earned until they continue their education.\u202fOther students stay in the workforce and begin their careers.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Patti
Pastor with a group of 2023 grads, including (second from left) a student who was on <\/em>Next Level Chef this year.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tell me about the FUSD at NAU day that happened in April. How did the kids like it?<\/span><\/b>\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

NAU Day is an opportunity for every rising eighth-grader to see the amazing colleges housed on the NAU campus, dream big and see what possibilities lie before them in their own town.\u202fEach college focuses on an activity that reflects its academic area.\u202fStudents are able to ask questions throughout the day and additionally learn what is involved in the admission\u202fprocess as well as what financial scholarships exist.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite aspect of the job?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Helping students identify a career path or two that allows them to be who they are as humans and use their talents. Whether that entails a four-year academic plan or their first job in our community, both are incredibly fulfilling.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Patti
Caption<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What did you want to be when you grew up?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to be an attorney, but ultimately, I decided I did not want debt and the time dedication necessary,\u202fso I became a paralegal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite way to spend a day off?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hiking, gardening, cooking something new, shopping.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are three things on your bucket list?\u202f<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, this is a tough one to narrow down. I would love to visit Croatia and Poland.\u202fI plan to walk the Camino de Santiago in the next couple of years and, finally, to visit all the national parks in the United States.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patti Pastor recently returned to NAU with a host of potential future Lumberjacks as part of Flagstaff Unified School District\u2019s FUSD Day at NAU. It\u2019s a particularly fun day in the life of Pastor, an NAU alum who now is the career exploration coordinator at the local school district. Learn more about the connection she…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":75030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1817],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humans-of-nau"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}