Dandy Stevens received her B.S. from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism in 1990 and went on to earn her teaching credential from Eastern Oregon University in 1994.  Stevens moved to the island of Guam for her first teaching job at a middle school and after two years  moved to Honduras to work for a private school as a Language Arts teacher. After moving back to the states in 1998, Stevens became a Language Arts and journalism teacher for Gervais High School. During her time at GHS she established one of the first bilingual community newsletters in the state produced by high school students and GHS journalism students won multiple awards and recognitions for their work on the student newspaper.  In 2003, Stevens earned her Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction as well as her administrative license and went to work at West Salem High School. After a year working for the Salem/Keizer school district, a position opened up in Silver Falls where Stevens then spent the next 15 years earning recognition as the Oregon Assistant Principal of the Year and leaving the district as the Assistant Superintendent to take the Gervais leadership role.