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I was born in Kodiak, Alaska, in 1964, the third daughter of Fred and Carolyn. My dad was a Marine Corps officer stationed there. On Good Friday of that year, a big earthquake hit Alaska and a tsunami crashed on the shores of Kodiak Island. My sisters, Linda and Patti, claim that the earth was rebelling against my presence. I think it shook me up, causing me to lead a somewhat nomadic life.
The family moved around for the next couple years as my father was posted to different places. When I was three, my parents divorced, and my mom moved us to suburban Detroit to be close to her family. That's where I grew up, secure in the love of extended family.
I attended the Royal Oak public schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade. From there I headed to Kalamazoo College, a small liberal arts school in western Michigan, where I graduated with a bachelor's degree in English. While there I had the opportunity to work for three months as an intern for the Sioux Indian YMCA in South Dakota, where I served as an assistant in the Red Scaffold School on the Cheyenne River Reservation. I also participated in a foreign study program that allowed me to attend classes at the University of Dakar in Senegal, West Africa for nine months. I learned an amazing amount and made life-long friends. That's also when I decided that I wanted to teach. I found my literature classes there very powerful tools for understanding the culture in which I was living, and I wanted to help young people to develop the reading and learning skills they needed to better understand the world in which they live.
After graduating, I obtained a position as an Assistant English Teacher in a small town in southern France, Clermont l'Herault, for one year. When I returned to the States, I worked for a couple years at an environmental school and summer camp in Massachusetts. While there I created and taught hands-on classes, led field walks, and facilitated group-building activities. Next I moved to northern New Hampshire to work in a K - 12 public school. I taught middle school language arts and social studies, learning a lot about teaching while trying to meet my students' needs in a poor school with few resources other than the spirit of its students and faculty. Chilled by the cold, dark winters, I then moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. While there I taught grades 6 - 8 for seven years at an alternative public school where I created and used thematic, integrated curriculum and alternative assessment in a multi-age, self-contained classroom. I also earned my master's degree at the University of New Mexico. Finally, in 2001, I moved to Asheville and found a position here at Carolina Day School where I am happy to be part of such a supportive and dedicated educational community.
I live with my sister, Patti, and my dachshund, Washington. My mom, grandmother, uncle and two cousins live nearby, so I see a lot of them. I also travel to visit family and friends around the country. In my spare time, I read, watch movies, walk, swim, bake, laugh at my dog, write letters and make various crafts.