Meet the Staff

Linda Evenson

Instructor/Administrator

Hi, and welcome to Internet Scoping School!

My name is Linda Evenson, and I am the creator/instructor of this course.

Since you’re contemplating investing your time and money in my program — entrusting me to successfully launch you on your new career — I thought you might like to know a little bit about me!

I’ve been happily married to my husband, Ty, a former sergeant in the Missoula County Sheriff’s Department, for over 35 years. He’s a wonderful husband and very supportive of my businesses; I plan to keep him!

We have two sons and two daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter, and currently we are living with 5 large dogs, 7 goats, 2 horses, numerous chickens, several turkeys, and a vociferous parrot, many of whom are rescues.  We all live together on about 10 acres of pasture in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley.  We have views of the Bitterroot Mountains on one side of us and the Sapphire Mountains on the other.  We count our blessings every day.

The beautiful Bitterroot Valley!

I have been a scopist for more than 40 years. Totally dating myself here!  I started out typing from dictation, then learned to noteread by correspondence course. The rest of my training as a scopist was pretty much on the job and mostly self taught. I started working in-house for a reporting firm in Missoula, then working for a couple of years for a busy firm in Spokane, Washington, before going out on my own as an independent contractor.

Fun fact: The first computers I used were old monster mainframes. They were about the size of a large desk, had a disk the size of a pizza that held all of about 200-250 pages, and cost more than $100,000 – and the only program they could run was the CAT (computer-aided transcription) system that was used for court reporting. I now own a Pentium laptop that cost about $500, can run multiple programs at once, is infinitely faster, and can hold huge amounts of information. Through use of a high-speed Internet connection, I presently work for court reporters from all over the country and make about three times the income I did. Ah, technology!

My Professional Involvement

I have been very involved in the National Court Reporters Association, serving on the Scopist Task Force for five years. We were involved in instituting new benefits for scopist members, as well as promoting the profession as a whole.

I have been active in my state association for the past several years, and I wrote a column for our state newsletter, The Nugget, for a while. I also functioned for several years as editor of the “Scoping” column in The Journal of Court Reporting, NCRA’s national magazine. I have spoken at several state conventions and at nationals, covering such topics as “The Successful Court Reporter/Scopist Relationship,” “Tips From the ‘Old Pros,’” and “Scoping for Speed and Accuracy.” I have also done private training with court reporters ranging from reporting software to Windows to sending files over the Internet.

I am sharing this with you to allay any fear and assure you that I know my job and am qualified to teach it to someone else. I believe enough in this profession to have dedicated a great deal of my personal time in its promotion.

I think the future of scoping is exceptionally bright, and I’m doing all I can to ensure that it is!

Why I Created Internet Scoping School (…way back in 1998!)

Three reasons:

1. There was a need for a good, thorough training program for scopists which would ensure the graduates know what they need to not only do their jobs well, but to make money;
2. I’ve been doing some public speaking about scoping the past few years and have found I enjoy teaching. I have also trained scopists before, find it rewarding, and I think I have a knack for it;
3. I really believe in the concept of mentoring, but I do not have the time to do it individually, so I consider this the next best alternative. In fact, many grads who trained one on one before finding me told me my course taught them more anyway!

I’m not here to tell you that everything I do is right, or that the way I do things is the only way. I can tell you I’ve made my living in this profession for many years, and I am probably one of the more successful and well-known scopists in this country.

I can tell you what’s worked for me, give you tips on how to make your job easier, how to be a successful scopist, and hopefully, twenty years from now, how to still love your job.

This course is meant to be completely self-paced, and should be pretty self-explanatory. However, I will always only be an e-mail or Facebook tag away for any questions or concerns you may have.

I intend for Internet Scoping School to be the best scoping course available, and for every graduate to not only be well-trained, but to be successful and enjoy his/her work.

So look around the site, enjoy yourself, and hopefully you’ll choose ISS to assist you in launching a new career!

Cathy McElderry

Bookkeeper

My name is Cathy McElderry.  (Linda’s my mom!)

Thank you so much for taking the time to learn about the wonderful career of scoping. I have seen this career change people’s lives and I feel blessed to be a part of it.

My mom started typing from dictation when she was pregnant with me, then worked her way into scoping when court reporting software came out, so I guess I have been around it since before I was born.

Growing up, I always dreaded the question, “So what do your parents do?” because it was always a long explanation. But now I love to share information about the scoping profession and the wonderful people it involves, especially the extraordinary group of students and graduates that we have.

I had been working part-time for Internet Scoping School for about five years and had the awesome opportunity to attend NCRA National Conventions and be a part of the ISS team. I started working full-time for Internet Scoping School in March of 2004 while my husband of six years was deployed to Iraq. Being able to work from home was a lifesaver since I was pregnant and had a four-year-old boy to chase after. I am happy to say that my husband returned safely in November of 2005 to me, my son, and our then 10-month-old daughter. We now live in Moscow, Idaho, but I am still able to help with ISS via the Internet.

I am one of the lucky few who get to say they truly love their jobs. I worked in the medical billing and office management profession for five years which helped me perfect my organizational and problem-solving skills. I thrive on interaction with people and having the opportunity to overcome challenges. I pride myself on my ability to think outside of the box and come up with new, innovative ideas to improve and enhance our students’ training experience.

Thank you for visiting our website, and if you decide that scoping is the career meant for you, I hope you will become a successful ISS grad!