About Me

After the first day of Kindergarten, I got off the school bus and promptly told my mother, "when I grow up, I want to be a teacher!". Quite a bold statement, but something that has been a guiding goal for all of my life since that moment. I went to school here right in Kalamazoo - first at Lincoln International Studies School, then Maple Street Magnet School (back when it was called South Middle School), and then Kalamazoo Central High School. During my elementary and middle school days I was what you could describe kindly as "a good student", but others called "a teacher's pet". I enjoyed math, science, and school in general and found I was quite good at it. My teachers helped fuel my passion for learning and teaching - I was able to stay in at recess and grade math papers in 4th grade, I helped kindergarteners learn to use computers in 5th grade, and I read the spelling words and administered spelling tests for absent classmates in 6th grade. I had no idea which grade or subject I wanted to teach, because every year and every subject became my newest favorite. Math and Science though, were constants throughout.

In middle school I first learned about the Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center. The students who came to speak that day talked of the amount of scholarships they were receiving for college. Besides wanting to be a teacher, another guiding goal in my life was to do everything I could to get scholarships, because without them I knew college wasn't in the cards for me. This was enough motivation for me to apply - and get in - to KAMSC. When the Kalamazoo Promise was announced the fall of my 9th grade year (of which I was fortunate enough to receive 100%), my biggest motivator for KAMSC was no more. But the special thing about KAMSC is that it also presented me with my first actual academic challenge of my life. And while I dealt with Imposter Syndrome quite a bit my 9th grade year, my mother encouraged me to return my 10th grade year. And by then, I had enough friends and had found my place decently enough that I decided to stick it out as an afternoon KAMSC student. What a life-changing decision that was!

As an 11th grader, I entered still certain I wanted to be a teacher (even through a brief, "I should be an engineer because I'm going to KAMSC" phase I went through as a 9th grader), but still uncertain about what I wanted to teach. I was leaning towards math, as it was a perennial favorite subject, but could also see myself going other paths. That was, until my first Physics test, where I earned a whopping 42%. 42 may in fact actually be the answer to life, because that score changed everything for me. I had never failed anything before - and certainly not to the degree by which I failed that first physics test. I was so upset - not at myself because I had this weird "I'm a great kid I can do no wrong" mindset - but at the teacher for failing me. How dare they?! I'll show them. And I did. I worked my butt off studying and doing physics, and when I looked up at the end of the year (with an A I might add) I realized I legitimately enjoyed the challenge and puzzle that Physics presented. And the rest, as they say, is history. I took Advanced Physics the following year and started searching for Physics programs, because I was going to be a Physics Teacher!

KAMSC has an assignment that every student completes their 9th, 10th, and 11th grade year that focuses on career opportunities and the education path needed to obtain those careers. This recurring assignment ended up being really impactful and helpful for me as I considered what I wanted to do after high school. One of the prompts of the assignment asks you to consider getting a job, pursuing volunteer opportunities, or attending summer camps to explore and prepare for "what comes next". As a result, I told my parents I wanted to go to a summer camp - away from home. My dad had attended Michigan Technological University's Summer Youth Programs as a kid, and recommended I check them out. I ended up doing two camps through SYP. And while I didn't go into either career I explored (general engineering and computer science), I did fall in love with the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in general, and Michigan Tech specifically. While I was leaning towards Michigan Tech, I also wanted to make sure it would suit my career interests - education. Michigan Tech doesn't have an education degree, but it does have education concentrations. This ended up being significant. While completing one of my three interviews for the Career and College assignment for KAMSC, I talked with a teacher at KC that gave some great advice. Don't get a degree in education if you want to teach; get a degree in what you want to teach, and then go back to get an education degree. This suited me just fine, because I really did enjoy my intended subject area and wouldn't mind becoming a content expert. 

Michigan Tech checked all the boxes. I started their in the fall of 2009, studying physics, education, and math (all my favorites). While at Tech I was a Resident Assistant for two years, participated in the Women's Lacrosse Club for two years, and played broomball for all four years. I was invited and joined the Zeta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta Women's Fraternity, as well as Sigma Pi Sigma, the National Physics Honors Society. After completing my student teaching at Hancock Central High School, I graded from Tech in the spring of 2013 with a B.S. in Physics, Education Concentration, Math Teaching Minor, and a Minor in German.

A critical part of teaching is to never stop learning. To that end, after only a short year I jumped back into my student role by pursuing my M.S. in Applied Science (and Math) Education degree from Michigan Tech. I worked on this degree while never leaving the classroom, and had a small delay when I transitioned schools and had to reset my research topic (from cell phone usage in schools to using feedback to focus on learning). I successfully defended my thesis and graduated with my MS.ASE in the spring of 2019, only a few short weeks before the arrival of my first son, Daniel.

After having another son (and another change in school), I am once again putting on my student hat. I am working towards an Ed.D. in Leadership from the American College of Education, with an anticipated completion date of July 2026. My dissertation, "A Quantitative Correlational Study of Admissions Scores and Student Success in a Secondary Specialty STEM Program" is utilizing KAMSC data to examine the relationship between admissions (entrance exam scores) and success (first marking period grades). The study will hopefully support the predictive validity of our admissions process, or uncover evidence that we have room for improvement and growth with our admissions process to better serve our students and strengthen the program for years to come.

Having wrapped up my student teaching and time at Tech, I packed my belongings and drove ten hours back home. I spent the summer applying to different places in Michigan and Alaska, hopeful and excited for my next opportunity. Imagine my surprise when, on the way home from an interview, I got a call from the school I did my student teaching at! The Biology teacher was retiring, and my mentor teacher was moving into that position, leaving an open position in Physics and Math. The principal set up a phone interview for the next day, and after the most relaxed conversational interview I've ever had, I had a job! So I once again packed up all my belongings and moved right back up north. While at Hancock High School I taught Intro to Physics, Physics, Astronomy, Geometry, Algebra I, and Pre-Algebra (not all in the same year, thankfully).

It was during this time I met my now husband, Connor, who was finishing up his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering. His career took us south, which was fine by me as my ultimate goal has always been to come back to Kalamazoo and teach at KAMSC (one day). I took a year off from classroom teaching to join Connor in Indiana, where he worked for Zimmer Biomet. During that year I worked on curriculum design and facilitated testing of new units as a part of Michigan Tech's Mi-STAR project. After a year of being out of the classroom and virtual work however, I was eager and excited to return to the classroom.

I started applying to schools in Kalamazoo and its surrounding counties, hoping to make a move closer to home. Connor, who was able to pivot to a hybrid schedule, was on board with returning to our home state of Michigan. I obtained a position teaching Physics and Astronomy at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, and we moved back to my hometown of Kalamazoo. My four years at Lakeview contained lots of growth, both professionally and personally as I completed my research needed to finish my MS.ASE degree and had my first child. I also learned the importance of flexibility and being able to educate students where they are at when the global pandemic forced a pivot to virtual learning for nearly a year.

In the spring of 2021, as I was completing my fourth year of teaching (seventh overall), I was contacted by Mike Sinclair. Mr. Sinclair was my Physics teacher at KAMSC back in 2007 and I've stayed in contact with him and have thought of him as a mentor ever since. He likes to tell the story of the night of my Senior Ceremony, when I walked up to him, put a finger in his face (I don't remember that part) and said "one day I will take your job". I learned that a math teacher was retiring, and there was an opportunity to join KAMSC. I couldn't believe it, but I was able to achieve my lifetime career goal of teaching at KAMSC at age 30 (the youngest teachers ever hired at KAMSC). 

I now teach 9th grade Informational Technology and 11th grade Integrated Math III. And things have now gone full circle - I've returned to the place that taught me my love of physics, the place that introduced me to Michigan Tech, and the place where I felt seen and like I truly belonged for the first time in my life. I love that I get create that environment for our newest KAMSC students. And I look forward to the next 30(+) years of teaching at KAMSC!