I went to a small rural school in south Texas and was fortunate to earn academic scholarships to both Texas A&M and UT Austin. I chose UT and ended up getting a Bachelor of Science in Physics. I worked in various industries including analytical instrumentation, rapid prototyping and advanced materials research and development. Along the way, I went to UT's Executive MBA program for my Masters in Business Administration. Although I was successful and did enjoy working with with these technologies, I found my career to be even more rewarding when I became a math teacher. I love working with students and helping them see the power and beauty of mathematics. I also coach UIL Number Sense and Calculator and sponsor our Mu Alpha Theta Math Club at Cedar Ridge. In 2013, I had the honor of being selected as a Siemens STEM Institute Fellow and participate in a week long academy in DC with 49 other teachers selected from around the country, focusing on how to increase science, technology, engineering and math in the classroom. I was also very excited to be selected as the Cedar Ridge "pilot" for a Next Generation Classroom starting in 2014-15. In 2017, I became the UIL Academics Coordinator and truly enjoy working with the outstanding students and teacher/coaches who have earned district championships, a regional championship and a few sweepstakes trophies, not including their numerous team and individual awards. We took our first academics team to State in school history in 2022 and hope to go again.
I share my love of video games, hiking, racing and the Longhorns with my husband of 32 years, Randy. We "rent" our teenagers from around the world through a foreign exchange program. We have hosted two young men from Brazil and a young lady from Italy.
In the summer of 2012, I hiked on foot over 525 miles from the French Pyrennes through northern Spain to the Atlantic Ocean on the Camino de Santiago. I also went to Portugal for the first time making it my 23rd country that I have visited outside of the United States. It was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish and German in addition to improving a few other languages.
In the summer of 2015, I hiked over 300 miles on a combination of the Camino del Norte, Camino Frances and the Camino to Finisterre. In the summer of 2017, I hiked about 300 miles from Santander to Oviedo to Santiago. I'm planning to hike the Way of St. Olav in Norway in the summer of 2021.
Countries visited by continent.
North America: Canada, Mexico
Central America & Caribbean: Honduras, Trinidad
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
Europe: Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Vatican City
Asia: Hong Kong (China), Israel, Japan