Veteran technology guru Jamie Corum served her last day as part of the campus staff on February 25 in order to pursue a new tech career in Texas.
According to Corum, “the new job is just a higher level of technology. I’ll be a systems admin[istrator]. It’s at a private company who has contracts with various government agencies.” The job is located in Austin, Texas, which Corum described as being “very culturally diverse and hip. It’s kind of becoming the mix of Nashville and Silicon Valley of the southern states.”
Corum said that her work at Campolindo covered a broad range of responsibilities. “I handle all of the technology issues from A to Z. Everything from printing to infrastructure, switch configuration, wireless configuration. Everything,” she said
According to Corum, the decision to take the new job was a difficult, yet necessary one. “It was a really hard decision because I’ve been here for so long,” she said. “But it’s an amazing opportunity for more education and better work. It’s a better job. I’ve hit a point in my life where it’s time to make that move forward. The opportunity presented itself, so I needed to take it.”
Corum said that she will miss “being in an educational environment and working with the students.”
Principal’s secretary Carolyn Daughton has worked closely with Corum in the district for almost 15 years. “I first met Jamie when I was an instructional assistant working at Acalanes, back in 2001. She used to do the tech work there,” she said. She added, “she would come in and visit with the students in the Special Ed class.”
Daughton and Corum also worked closely during their recent time together at Campolindo. “In this position as the principal’s assistant, Jamie and I worked together, since this is obviously the operations part of the school,” said Daughton. She added, “Jamie was always fast to respond to anything that we needed to keep the school technology up and going.”
Associate principal Karen Findlay, who is a vigorous advocate for technology in education, worked along side Corum for a decade. “When I first started here in the district 10 years ago, I worked with her at Acalanes. We were on the same district committees,” Findlay said.
Daughton said that Corum’s personality and character were admirable. “Jamie, as a person, is a very trustworthy and honest person. I think that she has a great work ethic, and she’s a great team player,” Daughton said.
Both Daughton and Findlay said that Corum was very good at her job. “She’s fantastic at what she does,” said Daughton. “I’ve always been impressed by how well she speaks to the district staff.”
“She was good at explaining what she was doing,” said Findlay. “Jamie did that [fixed technological issues], but she also had a really strong ability to explain to you what the problem was and how she was fixing it.”
Corum is excited for the future. “I’m looking forward to the unknown,” she said. “There’s this really cool quote from this Yogi that I read once. It was a response to his lack of emotional response: ‘It’s not that I don’t care, it’s that I don’t mind what’s next.'”
According to Daughton, Corum will truly be missed. “I have all wonderful things to say about Jamie. You know that expression about how ‘there’s always someone who could replace someone’? She might be the exception.”
Brandon Kearney, who has worked as a lifeguard and an administrator of the Soda Aquatic Center will be taking over the technology position vacated by Corum.