BIO

I grew up the youngest of six siblings just a few blocks from Missouri’s First State Capitol Site on the shores of the Missouri River, and I live within four miles of my childhood home today. My love of nature was ignited and nurtured by countless tent-camping trips to our family’s secluded acreage deep in the woods of Missouri. My most treasured moment here continues today - eagerly awaiting the first holler of the whippoorwill just as the evening campfire begins to glow.  

As the first in my family to graduate from a four-year college and later earn a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, I value every opportunity to seek new academic growth both in and out of the classroom. While I have experience in all content areas across grades 4-8, Geography is the subject I am most passionate about because it invites students to form a more personal relationship with the Natural World and find value in those opportunities of stewardship.  

This is my 28th year in Education, and I currently teach Geography to sixth-graders in Weldon Spring, MO. I became a National Geographic Certified Educator in 2019, and I continue to take education courses through the organization. I previously traveled with National Geographic for a Summer Teacher Institute at Teton Science School in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I am honored to be a 2023 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow and will use this experience to fuel positive change for the future of geographic learning in Missouri’s education system.