To Whom It May Concern:

I am a professor of anthropology at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington.  I first met Adrienne Koch as a student in one of my classes, a class from which she transferred due to conflicting requirements in her program of study.  While enrolled in the Education program at Central, Adrienne met one of my high school-age sons.  Through their friendship, she and I also became reacquainted.  Although I teach in anthropology, I have a life-long interest in poetry--an interest which I discovered that Ms. Koch and I shared.  I teach, and I am accustomed to writing standard, academic recommendations, but I wanted to make clear that at least in this case, that I am writing about a friend, and a fellow budding poet.

Adrienne's academic interests range from education and foreign languages, to poetry, prose, people and cultures.  She has traveled abroad, and studied for short intervals both in France and Spain.  She is thoughtful, sensitive and creative.  She is self-aware, and is able to use her insights and emotions to express through the commonplace surface world we all see, the deeper, unexpressed, and seemingly inexpressible realities of human existence.

Academically, she is a solid student, whose strengths lie with languages (particularly romance languages) and with literature.  Her weakest areas are in analytical fields such as mathematics and science.  Although highly capable, and by all accounts an above-average student, she is less at home in the standard rigors of a general education than in those endeavors which require creativity, original thinking, and artistic expression.

Adrienne shows a complex mixture of human traits.  She is nurturing and empathetic in her relationships with people, yet single-minded and determined, at times to the point of stubbornness.  As I have stated, she is not generally comfortable with the rigors of traditional science, yet she has developed interests in the past in astronomy, geology, and environmental issues.  She can be very motivated, and a self-starter.  She is often quiet, willing to hear all other points of view, but also by being well-informed and thoughful, she is also someone who can lead with confidence.  But most of all, she is alive and excited with the process of becoming-a trait which any teacher can appreciate, especially by comparison to the common attitudes of young people these days.  Indeed, it is my sense that is precisely her drive to "become" and to achieve her full potential which has guided her choices, both academic and personal.

Adrienne has a gift for asssisting other to achieve discovery.  As a teacher, I find this quality an essential ingredient in teaching.  Indeed, she has used her talent and her expertise in language to teach English to a class of Spanish students.  More recently, she continues to pursue these interests through a formal program in teaching English as a second language. 

I hope that you will find merit in what I have been able to share with you, and that you will give her the opportunity to prove herself in person.  I consider her a capable and motivated person who is bound to succeed in whatever endeavors she chooses to pursue.  She has my unqualified support, and I recommend her without reservation. 

Sincerely,

John A. Alsoszatai-Petheo, Ph.D., Professor, Central Washington University