I was born in northern Indiana and moved to Shawnee, Kansas with my family when I was twelve. I went to Shawnee Mission North High School and started college at Cleveland State University. After my sophomore year of college, I decided to move to Lawrence and finish my studies at KU. I earned both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from KU. I completed my student teaching at LHS and was hired there immediately afterward.

I taught at LHS for seven years, the Juvenile Detention Center for one year, and Free State for twelve years. I won "Teacher of the Year" in 2005 at LHS, "Sunflower Bank Teacher of the Month" in 2010 at FSHS, and "Sunflower Bank Teacher of the Year" in 2011 at FSHS. I decided that after 20 years at the high school level, I was ready for a new challenge. I was thrilled that Mrs. Ryan was also looking for someone new at Southwest MS.

I have taught almost all the high school mathematics courses from Fundamentals in Mathematics through Advanced Placement Statistics and have tutored many more at the college level. At SWMS this year, I will be teaching Prealgebra 8 and Career & Life Planning.

My boyfriend and I live in Lawrence with our four kids. I have two girls: Jasper age 13, and Jorey age 10. My “step-kids” are 12 and 16. They all attend Lawrence Public Schools. I am hoping to have them in my class sometime!

These are a few of my favorite things…

Lucky Number: 13 (my birthday is January 13^th)

Music: anything pop punk

Color: blue

Movie: most anything from the 80s – The Breakfast Club, Say Anything, Some Kind of Wonderful, etc.

Quote: “Give me a lever long enough…and I will move the world.” - Archimedes