Tell Us About You:

I am a 12th grade social studies teacher, program advisor, and the techie person at an alternative, dual-enrollment high school program housed on a community college (College of San Mateo) campus. I have been a teacher, athletic coach, district TOSA, and site administrator at traditional high schools, yet it is in this small, teacher-led, student-centered program I joined in my 18th year of my career where I have truly reconnected to the reasons for wanting to be in education in the first place – meaningfully teaching and supporting students. I am a parent of 3, partner of 1, and absolutely enjoy trying and learning new things. To put it nicely, I have pretty eclectic interests ranging from the boring to the mundane. Even though I am an introvert, I am an active volunteer with emergency preparedness and disaster response organizations, with particular interests in logistics and communications.

What has KCI meant to your career journey and why do you want to help spread the word about programs, resources, and workshops?

I did not come across KCI until recently and I really wish I had known about KCI much earlier in my career for a number of reasons. Ultimately, I think my impact as a teacher and learner would have been so much greater sooner. The professional learning communities created within each program cohort is simply unparalleled in the supportiveness, connection, and learning. The curriculum and learning environments are truly models to learn from – safe places to practice, experiment, and try new things. As a high school social studies teacher in the makerSPACE program (like a fish out of water?), with a roomfull of practicing and aspiring makerspace coordinators, I was even welcomed warmly and encouraged to explore creativity and design thinking. I had such a positive experience that I wanted more KCI – so the MERIT program continued to build on my wonderfully supportive learning experiences. Now it’s time to be the resource that I wish that I had in my early career days.

What is one quirky thing about you that you’re willing to share with people that people might not know about you

I have never had a coffee-type drink (really). I have been in a movie, on TV, featured in my undergraduate college’s magazine, and in the newspaper. I have yet to make it on the radio, though my voice has been (temporarily) used for some public transit systems.