The first adventure of my life was in New Jersey (NJ) where my parents moved to raise my brother and I. I attended elementary through high school in NJ where I discovered my educational and athletic interests. Growing up I was involved in a lot sports. I played soccer, basketball, swimming and volleyball. Volleyball ended up being the sport that I chose to pursue. Volleyball also put me on the path to wanting to teach. 

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In high school, I was highly interested in math and was also afforded the chance to take actual teaching classes through the local college. I found a love for problem solving in my math classes. I wasn't top in my class, but I worked very hard to learn the material. I discovered that I liked math because everything had steps to it and it was easy to break down. I ended up being a math tutor to help other students. This was where I learned that I liked being the one to show other students how something worked. This feeling was pushed further with volleyball. One of my close friends was attending the all boys private school in my town and he got my a managing position on his volleyball team. 

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I decided to pursue a mathematics degree at Elon University with a teaching licensure. As a high school teacher, you need to major in your subject area to be an expert. I also made the club volleyball team at the university, which I eventually was able to take over and run. This opportunity opened my eyes to the financials behind running a club and I was on the board for the intramural program. 

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After four amazing years at Elon I was ready to enter the work force. I wanted a new adventure, somewhere I had never been. I wanted to challenge myself so I applied to schools in South Carolina, which is where I went next. I had been hired as a High School Algebra 1 teacher for three years and coaching the JV program. It was a low income school with very little funding. I joined the curriculum team for Algebra 1, which helped build the curriculum for all of the high schools in the district for Algebra 1, which introduced me to the ideas of becoming a math specialist for a school district. It was then that I decided I wanted to go to Graduate School to pursue a degree in leadership and coaching. I wanted to open the possibilities available to me. 

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Eventually, I met my now fiancé, Michael who got transferred to Virginia for work, which is where I am now finishing up my degree at Michigan State University. It is my hope to continue to educate and coach the kids of today. There are many changes happening in the world of education with schooling and technology and I want to continue to be apart of that. The aim of my teaching portfolio is to examine my education and pick some goals for the future.