About Mrs. Dodge

 Hello, Room 13 families!  I'm thrilled to have the privilege of teaching your children this year.  In case you'd like to know more about me and my background . . .

 I am a local girl!  I grew up in Granite Bay (when it was still called Roseville) and attended schools in the Eureka and Roseville school districts.  I have seen tremendous change in this region over the years!  I met my husband Jerry on the track team during my freshman year at Oakmont High School and we were married 6 years later in 1987.   I attended both Sierra College and CSU, Sacramento, earning my teaching credential in 1990.  After teaching 6th grade in Yuba City for a year, I moved to the Dry Creek School District in the West Roseville/Antelope area, where I taught 1st and 2nd grades for about 6 years.  I stopped teaching full time when our daughter Jenica was born in 1996 but continued to teach limited part time in a variety of grade levels and assignments, including summer school, intervention, home hospital, and GATE testing.  We moved to Rocklin from Antelope in 1998 and welcomed two sons, Logan and Ethan, into our family in 1999 and 2002.  All three of our children attended Sierra Elementary and I volunteered in their classrooms.  I eventually started working for Rocklin Unified School District as a substitute and summer school teacher, as well as some part-time positions in VAPA and 4th grade.   I returned to the classroom full-time in 2012 and am happy to be part of the 6th grade team at Sierra.

 My husband Jerry is also an educator and recently retired from teaching math for the Dry Creek School District at Silverado Middle School.  He is the head coach of the cross country team at Whitney High School.  Jenica, who was a kindergartener at Sierra when the school first opened its doors in 2001, graduated from Whitney High School in 2014 and received her teaching credential for PE from Idaho State University in 2019 and is now a supervising home study teacher for Newcastle.  She ran cross country and track, holding school records at both WHS and ISU, and was the 2016 California Community College state champion in both the 5K and 10K while attending American River College.  She is now an elite runner with the Sacramento Running Association and will be training for marathons, with the goal of qualifying for the Olympic Trials in 2028.  Jenica married Garrett Seawell in 2019 and they gifted us with our first grandchild, Jackson, in 2023!  Logan graduated from Whitney in 2017 and led the distance team in cross country and track.  He followed in his sister's footsteps and attended ARC to compete with their state championship team, and also attended at ISU, where he received his BA degree in English in 2021.  Logan married his high school sweetheart, Haven, in 2023 and now works for Super feet.  Our youngest, Ethan, graduated from WHS in 2020, and yes, he also ran cross country/track!  He holds the school record for the 800 in track and helped his XC team earn League and Section titles, and a spot at the State Meet (four years in a row, a rare feat for a high school athlete!).   Ethan is working in real estate while also building a video production company, Dodge Media - you can check out his film skills on his YouTube Channel, D O D G X, and his photography/video work on Instagram @dodge.media at @runbydodge,  as well as his website dodgemedia.biz.  

As you can tell, I'm a proud mom!  And no, I don't run anymore (I was a sprinter in high school), but  I have discovered the joys of pickleball and am loving this fast-growing sport!

Another piece of information that may be of interest to you is that my sister, Meriem McKay,  taught 7th grade science at Spring View Middle School until she retired in 2024.  :-)

 Finally, I am excited to have the opportunity to work part-time this year, so I will be able to spend more time with family and help out with Jackson's childcare.  I'm thrilled to partner with Janelle Santora in our 6th grade classroom and feel fortunate to have found such an amazing person to job-share with!  

I appreciate being part of the active and supportive Sierra School community!  Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions:  ddodge@rocklinusd.org