I am Kathleen Pizzola, a small town girl raised in the no stoplight town of Powers, OR. I was homeschooled until 5th grade when I entered the Powers School District. Powers was filled with caring, dedicated, intelligent, fun teachers, and this is where my passion for education first began.
Throughout my childhood and teen years my parents ran a small, family owned business which nurtured my passion for entrepreneurship and taught me many invaluable traits, such as hard work, creativity, communication, and adversity. I graduated high school in 2006, top of my class as Valedictorian with a perfect 4.0 GPA, and with the added bonus of 42 college credits. Also, as the runner up to the basketball player of the year, I earned a full ride scholarship to play at the local community college, SWOCC. After 2 years there, I graduated with another perfect 4.0 GPA and a degree in business management. I received another scholarship to continue my education and as a basketball player for Eastern Oregon University. While at EOU I was a math and writing tutor, which rekindled my love for education. I graduated with honors from EOU in 2010 with a dual major BA in Business Marketing and Human Resource Management and as a NAIA Academic All- American for the basketball team.
After college, I returned home to help with the family business, unsure of what direction I wanted to go. I got a job at the local Chase Bank as a banker while also staying close to home to help my parents. Shortly after, I met the love of my life, my husband of 10 years Matthew, whose law enforcement career moved us to Eugene in 2012. After getting married in 2013, we became pregnant in 2014 and gave birth to Finley Grace in December, 2014. After maternity leave I returned to Chase bank, but my heart was no longer in finance. While staying at home, raising our girl, Matt mentioned that I should get my masters degree in education, my other first love. I received my Master’s degree in education in 2016 and I went on to be a public school teacher until October 18, 2021 when I was deemed “unfit to be around children” due to the vaccine mandate because I was unvaccinated, even though I had exemptions.
After being let go, because of my passion for kids, education, mentoring, and coaching, I decided to start my own homeschool co-op, which I now run as a private schoolhouse. It is learning as learning was meant to be; core subjects, the students have a voice in what they need to learn, and they’re in a small/close group setting.
My vision is to be a part of a school board that is collaborative, works towards a common goal that benefits the kids, and openly communicates. My skill set will bring strong and open communication, team building, open minded thinking, and collaboration.
As a family of 4, we love Jesus, camping, gardening, anything basketball related, taking our two golden retrievers everywhere, and working around our house and property. As the wife of a law enforcement officer, we are the epitome of public service. We thoroughly enjoy helping and serving our community!