Biography 0f the Performer

Adrea Ricke

El Paso, TX

INTRODUCTORY INFORMATION

I am from the small town of Globe, Arizona but I currently live in El Paso, Texas.  My husband, David Ricke and I originally moved to El Paso because of his military career, but once that ended, we found that we had no desire to leave!  We have a nice little house and three babies.  Okay, the babies are not human, but they are our babies.  We have a dog named Slick, a gerbil named Pinky, and another gerbil named The Brain. Could you think of a more perfect family?!  I know we can't.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

M.S. Candidate School of Library and Information Science
Graduate Academic Certificate in Youth Services in Libraries
Candidate Graduate Academic Certificate in Storytelling                           
University of North Texas, Denton, Texas
Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences

B.S. Elementary Education
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona
Center for Excellence in Education

STORYTELLING INTERESTS

As the oldest child in the family, it was my job to entertain.  Make believe made up a large part of childhood and therefore stories made up a large part of childhood too.  At night my brother and I would form collaborative stories with me starting and him finishing.  We really came up with some wacky stories, like "Kenny the Killer Guerilla" who lived BEHIND Mexico!

Now I am studying storytelling because I really want to hone my natural storytelling skills.  I often practice stories with the high school students that I work with everyday.  Mostly I love telling humorous stories but I have found a great thrill in telling creepy, suspenseful, and grotesque stories to the high school audience.  Who knew my petite package (5'3") could make six foot high school students squirm!  Overall, I am looking forward to earning a Storytelling Certificate but I am mostly looking forward to the future of telling stories.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

As for miscellaneous information, I love to travel.  Most of my travel is outside of the United States! I don't know why.  I got my first passport in high school and traveled to Greece, Italy, and Turkey.  I got married in Korea thanks to my G.I. fiance two years after I finished my undergraduate degree.  I have also recently been to Mexico and Canada and we are currently planning a trip to Australia for this summer.  So in other words, I have lots of mileage and I am not slowing down anytime soon!

I live by the motto of Joe Dirt:
"You got to 'Keep On Keepin' On"