Name: Becky Jones
Job Title: I am a Field Training Specialist in the Western Service Area, but mainly focused on North Platte, McCook, Lexington, and Ogallala HHS offices.
Where do you hail from:
I haven’t wandered far, I was born and raised in North Platte, went to college in Lincoln, and returned home.
Who are your early influences/who inspired you most:
For me, this is a group of people with different roles. I was blessed to live my childhood with all of my grandparents, and several great grandparents. I still have three living grandparents who my daughter gets to have relationships with! I have learned from each of my grandparents the value of family and having good character in hard work. Also, growing up, I attended a private Christian school through high school graduation. We were all a family and I still value many of those relationships and experiences. I also had a really amazing swim coach who I always felt saw me for who I was and what I was good at- the way she could give encouragement really made me believe in myself. Last, who hasn’t been greatly impacted by their parents? My mom and dad are my biggest fans. I am certain that there hasn’t been a single day that both of them haven’t done something for my brother and myself, often putting aside their own best interest for us. They are loving and loyal to a fault and have always volunteered for our church and the private school we attended.
What has been an unexpected detour/ greatest frustration/disappointment:
When I graduated from UN-Omaha with my Master’s degree in Criminal Justice, I applied to UNL’s Law College. While waiting to hear back, Brandon and I decided it was a good time for him to start working in my family’s business in North Platte and we began to make arrangements to move. I received the letter that I hadn’t been accepted and I was still really disappointed, but looking back, the growth that has happened for three generations of my family due to Brandon as a young person coming in with fresh ideas, has taught me the lesson of looking at the big picture for my family and submitting to a greater good than just my own. Plus, it led me to Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice.
What is your passion/what you are drawn to/what motivates you/where do you hope to be in five years:
I’d say that right now I am motivated by CFS worker retention. The workload is so impossible when there aren’t enough people to do it. I feel as much ownership and responsibility for the families impacted by child welfare as anyone, even if I don’t need to. When I am working with the HHS staff, I try to connect personally with each of them and let them know how important they are to their team, and that they really can “do the job.” Of course, there are also many times when I end up being what feels like a job counselor, when people find themselves unhappy and worn out.
As far as the next five years, I’ve been thinking about what I want to find myself doing when my daughter doesn’t require as much of my energy. I’ve got a few ideas rolling around in my head, and they all involve going back to school. We will see if I have what it takes to be brave on that!
Family life/hobbies /community involvement:
Brandon and I have been married for 15 years and 9 year old Ashtyn makes our family complete. We love having our two dogs as part of our family as well. I am involved at Hershey Public Schools, the best K-12 school in Nebraska, serving as secretary of the parent organization, I’ve been a Teammates mentor for nine years, we are newly involved in Destination Imagination, a nationwide STEAM program for kids, and I work with preschoolers in Sunday school and the AWANA program at our church. Throw in a major Nebraska volleyball addiction and family cruise planning, and my calendar stays pretty full!