About Me

Hello everyone! My name is Donna Beauchamp. I'm a Florida native, born, raised and still living in Jacksonville. I am a true GRITS: Girl Raised In The South. I am a widow of 5 years, having been married for 40 years. My husband and I have 1 daughter, who just turned 41. No grandchildren except for a couple of grand dogs.

I have worked most of the time since I was married in 1979, which can be seen in my resume. I worked as a Registered Respiratory Therapist, as a manger at BellSouth and AT&T working with business customers and now I'm with Mayo Clinic. I've been working at Mayo Clinic since 2021 working in the telephone operations office. All my past work experience has been a goldmine for me to pull from and use at Mayo Clinic. I also homeschooled our daughter for 3 years, from 7th-9th grades.

After 65 years of life, I decided to go back to school to finish the education degree I first started working on at UF, beginning in January 1978. Home Computers were in the near future, like 5 years, there was no such thing as a cell phone and the internet was only a thing for the department of defense. Also in 1978, gas was between 65 and 71 cents and the average price of a home was $62,500. Everything was written down on paper, and googling was going to the library looking over the card catalog or roaming through encyclopedias and dictionaries. My first pc (bought around 1991) was all DOS, no GUI interface, and had a whopping 500 mb of storage! 1 GB was about 1 year away!

My desire to finish my degree at UF has been growing stronger the last few years. When I found out about the online program for Bachelors of Arts in Education Sciences in General Studies, I jumped right at it. So I'm working on a Bachelors of Arts in Education Sciences in General Studies with a minor in Education Technology. From there, I plan to work on a Masters Degree either in Library Science with a specialty in archival studies or Education Technology. My family, friends and co-workers are all cheering me on in my endeavors, and I know that my husband, Jerry, would be right there cheering me on as well. He'd be the loudest!

So I look forward to learning with all by fellow students, hoping that I can also give back. My experience is ever evolving, and I look for to a new chapter in my life. So here's to a new semester of learning! Donna B