From History to Music!

Victoria Grimes was born in Uruguay. At age 3, her parents took advantage of an opportunity to come to the United States. Her parents, older sister and younger brother moved to Boston, MA. to "start a new chapter" and leave behind economic and political limitations. Victoria describes herself as being a "pretty nerdy" kid growing up. She says she was shy, and loved to read and play the violin. When given the chance, she also loved to play outdoors with her siblings. Victoria's parents divorced and her mom eventually moved to Portland, Oregon with the children. Victoria began attending Grant High School as a freshman and then later graduated. Victoria's mother went on to have another child, and Victoria's younger sister died of health complications at age 6. Victoria went to Mt. Hood Community College and earned her Associates degree in Music. She then went on to Portland State Univ. to get her Bachelor's degree in Music. She was talked out of it! She graduated with her major being History. Victoria worked in her church's youth group and taught music to children and realized that she wanted to become a teacher. She went to George Fox to earn her MAT so she could teach History, although she still actually WANTED to teach music! Upon graduation, she actually was given a job opportunity to teach MUSIC in the Reynolds District as a middle school strings teacher. Teaching for three years in the Reynolds District, she also earned her MUSIC endorsement from George Fox. Reynolds was needing to make cuts to teachers due to budget restraints, so Victoria knew she needed to look elsewhere since she was one of the newer teachers. Working at Salem Grade and Middle School turned out to be a real blessing. Karl Rashkes became a mentor that made a huge impact on her teaching and personal life and it was during this time she was also introduced to her husband. Dating for a year, she later married Jonathan and then moved to Gresham to be with him. It was difficult to leave her Salem teaching position and when she came to Gresham, she was a substitute teacher for the first year. This was definitely NOT ideal for Victoria. Because Victoria speaks fluent Spanish, she was offered a position at Corbett as an ESL teacher/aide. The following year she continued with ESL and also began teaching music at both CAPS and at the Corbett District. This year has been exciting for Victoria as she has been able to teach music full-time. She teaches general music to K-5 and strings to 3rd grade through high school. Her and Jonathan attend church, hike, read, attend the theater, and often get together with friends.