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Kelly (Byman) Klein
Rochester, Minnesota

I graduated from Winona with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Administration in 1992, having returned to Winona as an adult student. I had first attended in 1980-81, having transferred from Bemidji's Political Science Department. I returned in 1990 as a single mother to finish my degree.

While a senior, being from Rochester, I completed Internships at the Rochester/Olmsted Planning Department and the Rochester/Olmsted HRA in 1991 and 1992 respectively. In 1993 I was hired by Olmsted County as a Financial Assistance Specialist in the Financial Services department of Social Services. After a year I remarried and left the County to take some time off to spend with my family, and later worked at a Rehabilitation business and Mayo Clinic, finding that I liked working with computers and the medical field better than social work.

For the past year and a half I have been working as a Systems Support Specialist for Pace Financial Corporation here in Rochester, which has recently been acquired by Info-Cure out of Atlanta, Georgia. This is an IBM Business Partner and software company that has multi-faceted medical software for the AS/400. I am on the telephone helping our clinics all across the country with their software and hardware questions. I thoroughly enjoy this work.

To fulfill my need to help others, I have volunteered my time at Channel One Food Shelf, The Women's Shelter. and serve as Secretary on the Executive Board of the Community Housing Partnership, a nonprofit group who's mission is to ensure safe, affordable housing for lower income families. I also serve on New Hope Corporation Board of Directors, who provide affordable housing for persons with mental illness in conjunction with Zumbro Valley Mental Health Center. I am also active in the Methodist Church, and am guardian for my sister who is mentally and physically handicapped.

I remember what a tough time it was commuting to Winona and attending classes as a single mother, worrying about daycare, bills, the roads, on top of my school work. I received some assistance from JTPA, and remembering being counseled by a women who received her degree as a single mother also, and her telling me to just keep the car running, gas in the car, and get to class every day. That was actually very good advice! I remember on days when my daughter didn't have kindergarten, I couldn't afford additional daycare so I would bring her to school with me, and some of the professors would let her sit in class with me and other would not, and I would have to wait outside those classes to get class notes from someone. I hope it is easier now for parents to receive assistance to get their educations. Although it was a struggle, it was very rewarding to finally receive my degree, and I believe Political Science is a wonderful path for women to follow. It was a curriculum that was broad enough to expose me to many things. I was on a computer for the first time in 1979 for Dr. El-Afandi's class, and now work in the computer field. My research and survey classes led directly to my internship which resulted in my being hired by Olmsted County. And so I would encourage students now to take classes seriously, as they DO prepare you for the real world.

Sincerely.

Kelly Klein

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