fouks.net

Hello fellow Internet surfer and welcome to our profile page. We're very glad that you made it this far . . . and we hope that you'll stick around long enough to get to know just a little bit more about us and our life. After all, these days, acquaintances that begin in cyberspace are often the most real, vivid, and long-lasting - and maybe that will be true of us. Until I get information pulled together to put on this page about Tiffani, Robbie, Bryce, and myself enjoy this article that the New Richmond News did on me and appeared in the October 20, 1998 newspaper.

My Family

Jason is the son of Craig and Linnea Fouks of Clear Lake, Wisconsin. He has one brother, Trent, who is 16 years old. He also has two sisters, Heather, 17, and Amber, 12. The Fouks Family, which has a farm in Clear Lake, was recently spotlighted in The New's St. Croix County Fair Guide for 1998.

My Background

Jason was raised on the family farm in Clear Lake. While attending Clear Lake High School, he worked on the school newspaper, was an FFA member, and served as a media technician, creating highlight videos of school events for media groups and the local cable channel. Early on in his school days, Jason discovered he had a flare for working with computers, a skill that his teachers grew to value even more than he did. Jason remembers days when his high school instructors would call on him when they had computer problems. He particularly recalled one morning when he, a first responder, was called to aid a medical emergency victim before school. Later, after arriving at school, he was called on by teachers to reconstruct the database. "I got to school after the EMS call and everyone said, 'where have you been, the teachers have been looking for you?' So I helped to get the databases up again. It all happened before 8:30!" Jason said. "The rest of the day went great through." When Jason was the tender age of seven or eight, he sold his steer as part of his beef project for 4-H. His parents informed him that he could do whatever he wanted with the money he raised (as subsequent project earnings went toward college tuition). "I didn't even have to think about it," Jason explained. "I wanted a computer." While demonstrating his seemingly natural computer skills, Jason managed to make several improvements around his high school, including creating a mini-network for use by him and the rest of the school newspaper staff. And his contributions did not go unnoticed. "When I was graduating in 1997, the teachers joked 'we are not letting you graduate, we need you here,'" Jason said with a humble laugh.

My Career

Eventually, Jason talked his high school teachers into letting him move on, and he began the studies toward a career in computer repair and networking at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in New Richmond. At WITC, Jason said he gets a little bit of everything about computers. He is learning (and in some cases, simply reviewing) repair techniques, networking and electricity and circuitry. He is currently in his second year of the school's two year associate degree program, and finds himself repairing computers, setting up networks and building electronic devices. And now it is the faculty at WITC that finds Jason indispensable. Since starting at the school in fall of 1997, Jason has worked with Edna Grotjahn Early in WITC's alumni/student activities office. He said he applied for work study upon enrolling at WITC, and when he saw that Early's office deals with creating a school yearbook and newsletter, he knew it was just right for him and his talents. During the summer months, Jason worked an internship at Doboy in New Richmond, where it was his job to figure out the dreaded "Year 2000 (Y2K)" compliance standings of the business's computers and software. Jason said that if his knowledge of computers has taught him anything, it is that computers have made it possible for everyone's life to be improved. "We live in an information age that is really nice," he said. "People are able to communicate a whole lot faster and better. It's pretty great." Jason currently serves as the student senate president at WITC, and is also a member of the Wisconsin Student Government, a statewide association for technical colleges. As part of the state student government, Jason and his peers meet as a group and travel to places such as Madison, in an attempt to persuade legislators to pass legislation for the betterment of technical colleges. As if school, political pursuits and office work didn't keep him busy enough, Jason also continues to work on his family's farm - from time to time as he says. He also is still a first responder and is currently training to be an emergency medical technician, a rank he will achieve in December.

My Hobbies

Not everything in Jason's life revolves around computers. He said he also enjoys getting out on the snowmobile whenever time, and weather allow. Downhill skiing is another of Jason's hobbies, which he said he often does with his church youth group. Jason has graduated from being a young participant of the St. Croix County Meat Animal committee to being a treasurer. Of course, Jason never strays too far from his niche with computers, saying that he has several "outside, mini-projects" going on. He has designed a web page for a farm and updates it regularly, and he is setting up new computers at New Richmond St. Croix Valley Insurance. "I don't know what it is," Jason admitted, "If you set me down at a computer, I can just go. "

What Am I Doing Now - August 2010

Things have changed quite a bit since this article was written. In 1999 I traveled to Sweden for 6 months. You can read more about that adventure by clicking on the IFYE Trip link. I love to travel anywhere and everywhere. Tell me we are going on a trip and I will say ok (even though I don't have a clue where I am going). I also am an Emergency Medical Technician - Basic for Roberts Warren Fire & Rescue. I am now living in Roberts, Wisconsin where I bought my second house (in August 2005). I am currently employed at StarTech Computing, Inc. as a Network Specialist II. I have been working all over Western WI and Minneapolis/St. Paul area supporting users and their desktop computers, servers, networks, Internet, etc. I still enjoy skiing and snowmobiling during the winter months and try to play as much softball/golf/kickball with the FD as possible during the summer. I also enjoy going to my parent's farm and ride the 4-wheeler and their horses along with working with the horses out at Tiff's family hobby farm. I also spend quite a bit of time updating my computers skills in in new software especially web based, video, and graphical. If you have a request for something for me to do feel free to drop me an email or call me.

My latest joy has been with my wife of 3 years and our children. Tiffani helped me through my tough times while I was getting rid of my old house in Baldwin (FINALLY DONE WITH THE BALDWIN SAGA!! WHOOHOOO!!!). I love her dearly. We have three children: Robbie, Bryce, and Merrick and all have brought many joys and a rediscovery of the many simple joys in life. They have also tried my patience many times. We spend a lot of time up at the farm looking at all of the animals there and spending time with Grandma Linnea and Grandpa Craig (yes, that is weird to say). I know they love our children just as much as both Tiffani and I do. Look for many pictures on our facebook pages of the five of us discovering our new joys in life. Check back often as we will try to keep our website up to date (when time permits).