Name: Karrie T.

State: I reside in Texas.

Duration: I trained with CRAH in January 2004? I was at 200 wpm when I transferred to CRAH.

Practice: I practiced about 5 hours per day and 8 hours on the weekend.

Work: I now work full-time. I do CART at several different colleges. I started doing CART work before I finished school. I am now working for a captioning company based in California. I caption from my home. I’ve been working for them for the past 6 months. I love it. Between the CART work at the colleges and with the captioning company I am offered so much work, I have to turn a lot of it down.

Marital Stat: I am married.

Children: I have 2 children. One is 3 ½ and the other just turned 1. I had my first child while attending court reporting school in Texas. I was pregnant with my second child while still in school then finished my court reporting at CRAH.

Ed. Background: I have an Associate's Degree in art, and I have finished my training in court reporting.                              

Suggestions to new CRAH students: I attended a traditional court reporting school for 7 years, and the way they tell you to train and practice does not work. They tell you to only practice the speed you are in and lower. Well that obviously doesn’t work. I know a lot of other students, including me, who got stuck in speeds for 2 years at a time. When I started with CRAH, Linda gave me hope. But she kind of scared me too. She said to practice 20 to 40 words above my speed only. I thought she was crazy. I did what she said anyway. It worked. It only took me 3 months to finish my last 2 speeds. If I had stayed at the school I was attending, I’m certain it would have taken me 2 years or more at the rate I was going. I was so happy!!! My suggestion is to do exactly what the Support Staff at CRAH advise you. They know what they are talking about. If you do, I’m sure you will have the success I have had.

Comment re: CRAH: One of the biggest things that helped me finish is Linda’s never-ending enthusiasm and positive attitude. Having someone being so positive and believing that you can do it is very important, especially in this type of training. The other thing that helped me is practicing way over the speed I was in. Other schools say that if you practice above your goal speed it will impair your realtime. That’s not true. If you have the speed your realtime falls into place. Everyone at CRAH is wonderful. I could contact them whenever I needed help. They always responded quickly. I only wish I had known about them when I first started my court reporting education. I would have spent less time being depressed and unhappy, and less time in school. I also would have saved a great deal of money in school loans. I’m just happy I found them when I did.

If you are interested in captioning, I know that captioning companies really like it if you have had CART experience. If you are in your 180’s, that’s a great time to start CART. All you have to do is call all of the colleges close to you, tell them you would like to provide CART services for them. Leave them your name, and in a couple of weeks you will probably have tons of phone calls.

I love my job. I am so happy that I chose this profession. Captioning is so fulfilling. I am really helping so many people and getting paid GREAT money to do it.

If you choose CRAH, I know you, too, will finish your training in a timely manner. If you get stuck a little, just keep on practicing, just keep on going. When you finish, it will be well worth all your efforts!!!

Hi, my name is Chris, and I have been enrolled in the Court Reporting at Home course since late August of 2004. I have just completed my junior year of high school, so I can understand why I would be one of the “special” Court Reporting at Home students. But in order to understand why I decided to take this course, I feel it’s important to know some of my background. I am the youngest of four children, so I have seen several of my siblings enter and graduate from college.

What I found from their experience, however, was that college didn’t even guarantee a job. My one sister has yet to utilize her Creative Writing degree, which she has had for several years. And it takes far too long to get a degree from a college; my other sister had to go to school for five years in order to satisfy all the requirements to get her Dietetics degree. After these incidents, I really regarded college as a long, expensive waste of time, and I wanted to find a better way.

I had learned about court reporting from my sister, who works for a captioning company. I began searching online, but I had trouble finding a course that would permit someone as young as myself to enroll. That is, until I found Court Reporting at Home. Soon after, my father, who believes very strongly in this course, ordered a machine for me and the Court Reporting at Home course.

I remember feeling very daunted when I first put my fingers on the keys, but, upon beginning the course, I was amazed at how simplistic the lessons were and how quickly I was learning and progressing. The theory is put together in a very intuitive fashion, and I was always excited when something that previously made little sense to me made perfect sense one or two lessons later. I completed the theory portion of the program in roughly four months, and I am now hard at work on the speedbuilding portion of my training. Currently, after roughly four months of speedbuilding, I can write at over 120 words per minute.

 I hope to finish the course and become certified by the time I graduate from high school. So far, I feel I am well on my way to meeting that goal.

Hello from Canada ! My name is Lisa R., and I live in rural Ontario , about an hour from Toronto . I've been learning stenography from my home through CRAH. I have a family (5 children), work 4 days a week and fit in about 20 hours per week of practice on my steno machine and memorization of words/ phrases/ terminology.

I'm in lesson 19 now, which means I'm almost finished with the theory portion of the course. The material has been challenging, yet never overwhelming, because each lesson is built upon the knowledge from the previous lesson.

The wonderful part about CRAH is that I work through the lessons at my own pace. CRAH Support Staff is a great encourager though and never farther than a quick email away. The course lessons have been well planned with the intention to get me to the end. I like that, because I am achieving completion. I want to finish what I've started, and I honestly feel that CRAH has what it takes to help me do that.

I joined the Ontario Shorthand Reporters Association as a student member and have met reporters who have been uplifting & supportive. The conferences are a wonderful way to keep updated on current events in the world of stenography, as well as hear interesting topics dealing with everyday life issues. Gathering together reinforces the knowledge I have attained and connects me in a practical way to others who have chosen such a profession.

I will soon be working on speed building, and I know the theory portion has prepared a solid foundation for me, because it is an NCRA-approved theory that has been simplified and developed specifically for homestudy students like me. As much as I'd like to be able to give all my time and energy to studying, I have found that CRAH fits perfectly in my own situation.

-Lisa R.

“To all students of CRAH, feel very good about what you’re learning as it is top notch!!!  I thought I was going to be lost listening to experienced court reporters, but guess what?  After 18 Theory lessons, not only was 95% of everything familiar, but we CRAH students are on the cutting edge.  A lot of the new “tips” people had are the very stuff that we’re learning.  This was so awesome, I can’t tell you what a confidence boost it was.  I couldn’t wait to get home and practice my steno!”

-Krista D.

My name is Krista D., and I live in Northern California . I've been a court reporting student with CRAH since September 2003. I'm married and work full time, so I usually practice about 8 hours during the week, and 6 hours on the weekend.

I chose the CRAH program because it is structured for the student to rely on his or her own schedule, instead of forcing everyone through a mill in a predetermined amount of time. The flexibility of being able to practice when and how much I can is great. I have been enjoying learning and practicing using the CRAH program, but little did I know how great a program it was until I had the opportunity to attend the Deposition Reporters Association (DRA) 8 th Annual Convention held in San Jose , California . I attended with a friend, Julie, who is a court reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area. The theme for the convention was "Leap Into the Future!" The mascot was, of course, a frog.

I was able to attend two seminars on Friday, "Going Digital" and "Why all the Talk about Digital?" At first I was very confused, but I soon figured out that there are numerous software programs out there for every aspect of the business. There also seems to be a lot of upheaval due to audio and video recordings and the use of these recordings.

Friday night was the reception with the "DRA Olympics". It was hysterical watching four reporters attempt to put an out-of-order transcript into order. Then they had to set up their machine the fastest, (then take it down and move it to another "conference room") and finally navigate around obstacles with their "wheelie" the fastest without spilling water from a water glass. I got to meet a brand new court reporter, also from Northern California who had just finished her first job, and also "veterans" who'd been doing this for years. They all love it.

A seminar I attended on Saturday morning was "Internet Reporting- A Leap of Faith?" I thought this was extremely interesting, as I would like to be an internet reporter or web captioner. The meeting was freeform, but the speakers were very experienced and reviewed software that could be used for these purposes.

Lunch was provided, and a raffle was held during lunch. The people were so nice, that they gave me some raffle tickets just because I was a student.

The last seminar I attended was "Lean, Mean Stenowriting Machine," and they're talking about the human, not the machine! This was a seminar for and by all of the attendees, to help out each other with any tips, briefs (arbitraries) or anything else that anyone had questions about. To all students of CRAH- feel very good about what you're learning, as it is top notch!!! I thought I was going to be lost listening to experienced court reporters, but guess what? After 18 Theory lessons, not only was 95% of everything familiar, but we CRAH students are on the cutting edge. A lot of the new "tips" people had are the very stuff that we're learning. This was so awesome, I can't tell you what a confidence boost it was. I couldn't wait to get home and practice my steno!

-Krista D.

-Tricia H.

Personal Comment:
With CRAH, of course, I do not have to travel to class, lug equipment in and out of my car and into class, and most importantly, I feel, is the support and encouragement I receive. For me, it has been invaluable, and I can honestly say, without it, I doubt I would still be plugging away with my speedbuilding today.

Hi Linda,
Thanks for letting us know about the Los Angeles General Shorthand Reporters Association's Barbecue. The BBQ was such fun. I was seated with a whole group of students from Southcoast College in Orange County. These students told me their school director, Ann Gonzales, who was never a court reporter, does not allow more than 10 brief forms. The students must write everything out!

The "horror" stories did not seem all that different from what I had heard you relate on, I believe, the Literary CD. One quite funny gentleman related that he received a phone call the next day after delivering his transcript asking why he had written "How long were you under the doctor's car?" It is good to know that other people have trying days and survive.

Topics that were covered were:
How to introduce yourself at the deposition, the favored way being to hand out business cards; punctuality; pointers on attire and grooming; even how to stroke yourself into the record as "the reporter" in regards to handling of evidence. In other words: "the reporter" says: "Mr. Q, you will retain custody of document such & such. Is that correct?" This way there is an accounting in the record for this. Another reporter shared that she marks each and every page of a document to ensure it stays in the original order should the pages somehow fall out of order.

In addition to the advice, we also had door prizes, and to my surprise, I won a StenEd Medical Dictionary for stenotypists.

We had many goodies besides, and I am now a member of the LAGSRA. All the working reporters were in agreement that you should belong to as many associations as possible and give time when you can after you have become a working reporter.

I did speak with a very interesting woman who is a CART reporter currently working at the University for hearing challenged students. She writes the lecture for these students. She isn't required to be licensed, though she is working at obtaining one. This seems like an interesting career idea as well.

I would recommend to any student to attend as many seminars and to obtain student membership in as many organizations as possible.

-Sherry H.

I run the "office" -- bookkeeping, invoicing, scheduling, etc. for my husband and up to 3 software contractors. I have just obtained my Eclipse software and am getting ready to start scoping. I am also getting ready to "report-transcribe" for my husband as he takes 6 years of research and writes a book about his father's experiences in WWII.

CRAH has been wonderful for me! I wanted to learn court reporting, but didn't want to deal with a traditional classroom situation. I can work at my own pace and work it around the demands of family life! CRAH is only an email or phone call away if I need help or encouragement. I don't have to deal with teachers who have not been out in the real world for years. I get solid, honest, real-life answers to any and all questions that I have. The support is absolutely wonderful! In fact, when I get frustrated or discouraged, my husband will look at me and say, "What does CRAH say?" and it gets me back on track.

Student Seminars:
We had two Student Seminars on Sat. AM for us. In the first one we broke up into groups of 13. They had 6-7 reporters who were in different fields: Freelance, Official – Fed. & State, CART, and a new reporter who had been out of school 6 months and was getting ready to take State certification. The reporters rotated through the groups for 15 min. at a time. They told us about what they did, and then we got to ask questions we wouldn't want to ask in a large group, i.e., How much do you make? What's your favorite software? Which is the best firm to work for? The only thing I would have added was a representative from a Reporting Company.

The second Student Seminar was by a local State judge. He talked to us about how the court system truly hangs on the court reporter being there. He was just delightful and very appreciative of all the reporter does! His current and former reporters were there, and the bond between them all was wonderful! He told stories and gave advice on dealing with lawyers. ("Smart attorneys know how important you are and treat you very well...Stupid lawyers, well...just bite your tongue and be professional...That's what I have to do.") He also talked about being paid for transcripts... "You work hard. You deserve to be paid for your work. Ideally, you should be handed a check as you hand them the transcript. If they don't pay, take them to court!" - In Mo. the official reporter can sell transcripts he/she produces. It is regarded as a bonus. I don't know how other states work. This was a good seminar, because it gave you a look at the relationship between an official and their judge and how highly reporters are regarded by their judge.

I would suggest taking a legal pad. I took LOTS of notes! Recommendations: Be outgoing, ask questions...Everyone was more than happy to answer questions, tell me about what they did, etc. Oh, be sure to thank the Chair for the group that put the convention together. I was lucky and had the incoming President of MCRA helping me find a sponsor.

Suggestions:
In his seminar, Mark Kislingbury, suggested that we stack 2/3 of the adhesive keypads on the vowels keys. It raises the height of the keys, so that the thumbs don't have to go so far to hit the keys and don’t get so tired. Originally, I put keypads on the final S, D, Z & * keys...so I could find them! However, since my thumbs get the sorest, I went right home and put 3 on. . BOY is it GREAT!!! And I also found and use a product called "Report It" by Best Associates. It's an adjustable lower-arm support that rests on your lap. It also has angled foam footrests to keep legs at the right height. They definitely help reduce wear/tear and fatigue.

MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL -- JOIN NCRA - - It will pay for itself over and over! I've learned SOOO much from the articles, and learned that everyone has had the same fears, concerns, and joys as a student that I have.

-Marti H.