I went to a small rural school in south Texas and was fortunate to earn enough scholarships to go to UT Austin and study Physics. After getting my Bachelor of Science, 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.
I share my love of video games, hiking, racing and the Longhorns with my husband of 28 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 24th 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.
Here's a video using Google Earth showing the first two days of my route in 2012 from St. Jean to Roncevalles.