About Me

I have been with the Greater Johnstown School District almost my entire life. I received my elementary through high school education here, my student teaching experience here, and my professional teaching career here since 2001. Needless to say, I am a Trojan!

I earned my Bachelor's Degree from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and my Master's Degree in Teaching Secondary English from Indiana University, and I continue to learn by attending trainings, workshops, conferences, and continuing education courses.

Four years ago, I transitioned from the traditional classroom setting to that of the newly launched GJHS Summit Learning Academy, believing that this program could become yet another way that Greater Johnstown strives to offer the best opportunities for our students’ education.

Our district mission and vision is to provide an effective learning environment for all children; an environment where team work, support of individuality, sense of community and integration of technology blend together to enrich the learning climate. This is offered within our academic courses, our college and career preparatory programs such as AP and Dual Enrollment courses, our vocational programs, co-op, electives, and extra-curriculars. And now, the GJHS Summit Learning Academy is another way.

Within Summit, we provide participating students a non-conventional learning environment designed to help them reach their full potential based on their individual needs and interests. We provide distinctive work spaces for engineering creativity and productivity. We implement a rigorous educational curricula that allows for student customization. We provide expertise and supports through the coordination of large and small group instructional workshops, 1:1 tutoring, and explicit teaching of the habits employed by successful contributors in school and business. And we continually monitor students' progress and make adjustments based on our professional judgment, their feedback, and the data.

I am fully committed to this mission and to my work as an educator, striving to teach not only academic skills, but also life skills, what employers call soft skills, what writer Dr. Charles Faye, PhD addresses in his book Parenting Kids to become the People that Employers Want and America Desperately Needs.

I look forward to working with students and parents each school year, helping lead more Greater Johnstown Trojans toward positively impacting our local community, their current and future workplaces, and even our society at large.