Union Adventist University

Shannon Brown has arrived at Union as the Career Development Program Director in the Student Success area. Students from Campion Academy will recognize her as their former registrar/guidance counselor/Bible teacher.

Others may recognize her maiden name of Zytkoskee as showing up often in Adventist church work. (Fun fact: Three different men named Adrian Zytkoskee attended Union and became educators.)

A big part of Shannon’s goal at Union is helping students envision a career. “I’m excited about helping kids find their passion,” she said. “I want to help them find the path that God has set out for them, so that when they wake up in the morning, they are excited about going to work.”

She will also help students find internships and work opportunities that will propel them along their career path. She knows how valuable work experience can be on a résumé. As a senior at Monterey Bay Academy, she worked in the accounting office. The head accountant, whom she loved and admired, suffered a physical collapse from the weight of her responsibilities. That’s how a teenage Shannon and a friend ended up running the accounting department by themselves. They did payroll, handled student bank transactions, and wrote checks to vendors.

“Later, I trained the three people they hired to replace the accountant,” she remembers. “I don’t know how they felt about being told what to do by a 17-year-old.”

When she showed up at Columbia Union College the next year, Shannon’s work experience landed her a prime job in the accounting department with her own office, an unusual perk for a freshman. “One of the first things I did was write an $88,000 check for a bus,” she said. Look at me go! she thought to herself.

She finished a degree in psychology and went on to earn a master’s in school counseling and an Ed.S. in school psychology. “I wanted to work in Adventist schools,” she said. “Our kids have similar problems as students in public school, but not always the resources they need.”

She met her husband, Darren, after their mothers, who shared a Bible study group, realized they were both praying for marriageable children who weren’t meeting anyone. The union that came about as an answer to those prayers now includes two teenagers, Abigail and Benjamin. Will they add another generation to their family’s legacy serving in Adventist education? No pressure, but it would be nice.

Summer adventures for IRR majors.