I was raised in the town of Watertown, NY (commonly referred to as 'Upstate NY'). During my high school years, I worked as a year round babysitter and summertime Nanny for a family of six.  At any given time, the children aged between newborn and 11 years old. After graduating high school in 1995, I was eager to do something different. I decided to attend Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA (600 miles from the small town in which I grew up) with the intentions of completing the pre-med program.

I eagerly pursued my love of the sciences, particularly, Biology and never strayed too far from the pre-med program; that is, until I took a couple of environmental courses which changed everything. I became engrossed with the environmental sciences...it was everything I was interested in and felt so passionately about. In the summer of 1998, I went to Harvard Forest as a collaborative researcher. Although I absolutely loved the challenges of research, I started to feel that something was missing in my life. After graduation in May of 1999, I declined my professor's offer of returning to Harvard and instead decided to move to the Syracuse area.

I excitedly took a job as a Nanny and was extremely pleased to be involved with children again. My first day on the job was the start of a new direction in my life. I had found what was missing--the simple presence and daily interaction with children. The next day, I enrolled in education classes at SUNY Oswego in pursuit of a profession in elementary education. In September of 1999, I began graduate classes. I attended full time until December 2000 when my son was born. After taking 2 years off from school and experiencing the wonders of the living world all over again through the eyes of my son, I eagerly returned in the fall of 2002, knowing that teaching was definitely the profession for me. In 2004 after some substitute teaching experience, I accepted an elementary teaching assistant position in the Onondaga Central School District located in Nedrow, NY.

In some ways, I feel as though my life has led me in a complete circle. I arrived at the teaching profession because of my love for children and my continuous amazement of how their different little minds work...that is why I love teaching. Overall, my life experiences and education have been enlightening and rewarding. They have helped me shape my beliefs and ideals about teaching and learning and made me realize that although I have received my certification and Masters, it is hardly the end of my education. Rather, it is only the beginning of my long and eagerly awaited journey into the professional world of teaching and learning.