Bio: Born and raised in Southwest Washington, I come from a family of teachers: my great-aunts (who taught at an iconic one-room school house), all of my aunts and uncles and both of my parents, and my daughter who teaches middle-school English. It is in my blood to teach! I graduated high school in Centralia with departmental honors in English and music and graduated from The Evergreen State College with a double-major in English and history as well as a teaching credential. After teaching in Washington, I moved to California and taught at Paramount High School before taking 12 years off to raise my daughters, who went to Oak Park schools. During this time, I was a basketball and softball coach, PTA mom (and president) at Brookside Elementary, and a community organizer assisting the district in creating the Oak Park Neighborhood School, our district's preschool program.
Then, Oak View called, and I am in my 22nd year here. During this time, I have moved us from a bank of very old Apple computers to one-to-one laptops (over a decade before the rest of the district got them), moved our yearbook and newsletter online for both production and distribution, gotten all English courses certified as college prep, developed a college prep stained glass VPA course and a CTE child development course, and lately remade and increased our library using a grant from the state. I have been instrumental in powering our Diversity and Equity Task Force and am very proud of the work we do as a district to welcome and support all students and staff. This year, Hannah Robinson and I will work together to create our Career and Technical Education Pathway courses. During this time, I have come to know and love the students who come here. The best part of the job has been learning and growing together.
In 2017, I earned my master's degree in educational psychology from the California State University at Northridge where I also earned certification as an ERWC instructor (Expository Reading & Writing Curriculum). Other professional development has included a 2-year course in inquiry-based instruction, a 1-year course in peer mentoring, a fellowship with the UCI Writing Project, a 2-year program with VCOE in teacher leadership, and ongoing learning as a Secondary Innovator with OPUSD peers. This past summer I certied as a DBT- Steps A curriculum instructor and look forward to incorprating this work into our already solid social emotional learning program. I have provided professional development offerings both within OPUSD and at the CCEA conference.
I currently live in Thousand Oaks with my husband and cats and visit often with our grown children. I love to cook, bake, garden, read (and read some more), knit, and putter in my stained glass workshop. I enjoy hiking as well as engaging in hot yoga to expand my practice of mindfulness and lifelong fitness. I will continue at Oak View for many more years and look forward to enjoying every minute of that time with our wonderful staff and amazing students.