I was raised in a military family growing up. This allowed me to travel and experience parts of the United States that I otherwise would not have had the chance to. Having said that, I was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I then moved couple times over the course of 7 years before finally making my way to what would become my adopted home state of Wisconsin. I spent my the remainder of my childhood in Monroe, Wisconsin. Monroe is 41 miles south of Madison. It has a population of about 11,000 people. It is best known for it's large scale production of cheese. Hence the mascot name, Cheesemakers.

After High school, I went on to attend the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where I obtained a Bachelor's Degree in History and in Geographic Information Systems. Upon entering the work force, I worked two years in the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) field for the City of Verona and then JFNew Consulting firm. I took a unique, 0r shall I say, indirect path to becoming a teacher. After two years of welding and 8 years of being an educational aide, I finally was able to achieve my dream of becoming a teacher.

Outside of the classroom, when I am not with my family, I spend most of my spare time coaching football and boys tennis. My wife, Allison and I have two children. Amelia age 8, and Otto age 5.