This is my 19th year with SunRidge School. I'm married and have 3 sons. Some things you may not know about me:

• I broke my first bone ever - my right big toe phalange - playing disc golf at Rosa Park in Santa Rosa on hole 8 this last year. Stubbed it on a thick root.

• I'm afraid of heights and deep water - though before I came to SunRidge my job was to work at 50 feet up in a redwood tree for hours at a time. Also I like to kayak on lakes and rivers. Both activities have helped me master my fears.

• Besides disc golf, my other hobbies include playing the guitar, backpacking, and you could have probably guessed it - roleplaying, card and board games. Yep, games.

• The highest points I've touched feet on earth is at Cloud's Rest in Yosemite and the top of Mt. Lassen.

• If I wasn't a teacher, I'd probably have become a lawyer, a judge or a baseball player.

• We have a kelpie shepherd named Nova, and a hunter cat named Comet.

Educational and work background:

I've worked as a paper boy, pool cleaner, elementary basketball coach, fast food preparer, college tour guide, website designer, college live-in advisor, tech support rep, camp counselor, shipping dock worker and others.

I came to Sonoma County in 1992 as a college student at Sonoma State University. Through the Student Union’s Outdoor Pursuits program, I led about 30 wilderness trips to places like the Barranca del Cobre in Mexico, Zion National Park in Utah, and kayaking in the Sea of Cortes, among other amazing areas in California. I’ve logged over 3000 trail miles hiking in my journeys from the peaks of Lassen and Cloud’s Rest, Yosemite to the rock climbing routes in Joshua Tree National Monument and hiking the Lost Coast in Mendocino.

I graduated from Sonoma State University, Pi Sigma Alpha, with a BA in Political Science, and a minor in History and Philosophy in 1994. I then entered and completed a Single Subject Social Science teaching credential program in 1996. While working in the public schools as a substitute teacher for a few years, I trained in 1997 with Four Winds Leadership and Teambuilding, a ropes course program including high elements. I eventually led all aspects of the program, including element design and staff training. I also constructed a rock climbing wall and low-elements course at Camp Winthers, located near Soda Springs, CA in the backcountry. I’ve worked at Camp Winthers for at least a week since 1987, for each of the last 30 summers, mainly as a naturalist instructor, teaching environmental education to weekly groups.

A “SunRidge-inal”, I’ve been teaching since the school’s inception, for 10 years at our tiny campus on Watertrough road to our current location. In 2006, I obtained a California Physical Education Single Subject credential. I have attended many workshops for Waldorf Movement teachers over the years, enrolling in the Spacial Dynamics Core Studies program and completing two years, in 2017. During the last two decades I have learned to throw and teach discus, javelin, and shotput. I’ve been teaching archery for over 30 years, including weeks at Camp Winthers and at SunRidge. For ten years, I’ve organized the Mayacamas Medieval Tournament, an event culminating the sixth grade year, and also the 7^th grade Explorers’ Challenge.

I enjoy coaching coed volleyball to the 6th-8th grades, and perhaps my favorite time of year for coaching is January through March, when I have the honor of coaching the SunRidge Valkyries girls’ basketball teams. Both sports fall under my purview as SunRidge’s Athletic Director. I’ve been teaching children since 1992, and 1^st through 8^th grades at SunRidge for many years now. I enjoy disc golf, role playing games, backpacking and playing the guitar.