Somer explains how important education really is, and how it has helped her acquire masses of knowledge at Southgate Coins.
My "Educational Notes"
By, Somer Athari
Well, all of us girls are back in school as well as the rest of the state of Nevada's students. We are all just overjoyed about our summer being over and being able to finally hit the books! (Can you sense the sarcasm?) I am, actually, very happy about this particular semester because it is MY LAST ONE!!! That's right after this semester is over, I will be able to officially say that I am a college graduate and have the paperwork to prove it. Sarah has only two semesters left then she is off to law school, and Heather is in the process of her 3rd year at UNR.
The great thing about all of us girls working at Southgate Coins is that we have learned not only how to be students, but also the teacher's assistants. The girls, and myself have been teacher helpers to our customers for as long as we have known what proof sets were, for example. We have learned the basics about the popular U. S. Minted coins, and now we are even able to tackle some of the more difficult questions, like investing opportunities in coins (see Snippets from 4-4-05) or even some of the varieties in the Morgan Dollar series. It has finally become our turn to start teaching others the wonderful pastime that is coin collecting. We are always getting questions from some of the new beginning collectors that visit the store like, "What is a mintmark? Are these proof sets ever going to go up in price? Are my wheat pennies worth anything? My son is curious to start collecting coins, but how do I, as a parent, help him when I don't know anything about this stuff? What is the difference between Plasticized and Unplasticized?" Rusty and Marie have taken special care teaching every one of us on this specialty occupation, and we have taken all that we can and put it to use with all our great customers. We have, in a sense, become coin connoisseurs, able to help in most aspects of this field, and yet we still learn new things everyday.
Lately, all of us here at Southgate have modified our weekly ritual of reading the newest Snippet, by also reading an old Snippet too. Starting from the very beginning is really a flash from the past and also a great way to see how much we have all grown through this company. It's like everyone online has been able to watch all of us from birth, to first steps, then adolescence, the teenage years, and now onto full maturity.
Luckily, I know that education isn't something that ends. I am sure that I learn at the very very least, 50 new pieces of information (that stick) per day, whether it be at home, school, or work. This continues for the rest of life. So, though I am SOO SAD (wink, wink) for my college career at UNR to be ending in December, I am already in the works of furthering my formal education and will continue to have a fascination in coins, and maybe someday be able to create some really great sets of my own from all the knowledge I have learned here at Southgate.
Your Teacher's Pet Correspondent,
Somer