2 minute read
Tom McPartlon
ALUMNI PROFILE
Tom McPartlon
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High School Class of 2007
BA, Environmental Studies, concentration in Urban Ecosystems Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, The New School, 2011
CURRENT WORK: IT Coordinator, Homeless Action Center, Oakland, CA
USING TECHNOLOGY TO ADVOCATE FOR THE HOMELESS
What and how was your academic experience after leaving Waldorf, both personally and academically? I went to Eugene Lang College for Liberal Arts at the New School, which was a (mostly) seamless transition academically. The class sizes were small, and most classes were writing heavy. I had planned on majoring in English but had an excellent ecology professor who steered me towards environmental science.
New York City was a lot different from Santa Fe, though the New School did an excellent job introducing students to the city. I took several electives that took me from the northernmost part of the Bronx to the southern tip of Staten Island and everywhere in between, including the oldest subway tunnel in the world, the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel. We had to climb down a manhole in the middle of Atlantic Avenue to get there.
How did you choose your profession? I've always loved computers and enjoy working with my hands. I started as an entry-level internet technology (IT) support person for a small tech recruitment agency, which allowed me to take classes online and learn a lot on the job. That afforded me the ability to apply for the position I have currently. As IT Coordinator, I do a little less support work, but still get to take computers apart from time to time.
Where have you worked and what is your current work today? I continue to wear several hats. In high school, I worked construction and at a video rental store. In college I was a research assistant for a botanist/ecologist. After college, I got an internship at the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, a nonprofit in Brooklyn, NY, that focused on cleaning and planting areas surrounding the Gowanus Canal, which at the time had just been designated a Superfund site. I also worked three other part-time jobs at the same time doing administrative work. I left for the West Coast about a year after college.
When I moved to Los Angeles, I got a job as a landscaper/forklift operator for about a year until I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since moving to Oakland, I have been a babysitter, cannabis clone propagator, and tech support specialist.
I currently hold the title IT Coordinator at the Homeless Action Center. HAC's mission, quoted here, is as follows:
HAC provides no-cost, barrier-free, culturally sensitive legal representation that makes it possible for homeless men and women to access the maze of social safety-net programs that provide a pathway out of homelessness. Through HAC’s
