I was born in St. Louis Missouri, but most of my life experience has been in the bay area of California. My father was an iron worker, so we did move briefly to other states(Oregon, Washington, North Dakota) but always returned to California. Perhaps this was the beginning of my passion for travel. I have been lucky, and got to live in Germany for a year and have visited a lot of states here in the U.S. My other strong interests are gardening, photography, camping, backpacking. I came to Yuma to visit a friend after taking fourteen months to explore the U.S. I was here without a job, low on money, and so I applied for the position of library aide at Somerton School District. My work experience prior to this was always in the business world. However I did volunteer to work with the 4-H and Girl Scouts. I think that experience helped me get the job along with the fact that I expressed a strong interest in literature and the art of story telling. Going back to school to become a teacher is kind of like coming full circle for me. I was planning to become a teacher when I graduated from high school, but life experiences blew me in other directions.

I have always wanted to be an inspiration to the people around me and especially to those who need extra attention and concern. Looking back, I see that I could have used some special education techniques during my math classes in elementary school. I shut down in the area of math because of insensitive teachers and a lack of effective teaching methods.

I have not worked closely with any students with disabilities. My mother had a severe stroke in April of last year. I have had to adjust my expectations of her abilities and really adjust the way I communicate with her. I believe the adjustments I have made dealing with her stroke will help me in my career of working in special education.