Each time my military family moved, I quickly became known in our new neighborhood as that kid who’d ring your doorbell and invite your kids to come play “school” with me. My dad’s job in the Air Force meant frequent moves growing up; playing “school” quickly connected me to other children and hardwired a love of learning and teaching in me. When my dad was assigned to serve at the Sunnyvale (Onizuka) Air Force Base (now an extension of the Google campus), we put down roots and I still call Sunnyvale home. My path to teaching included working at the DeAnza College Child Development Center in high school, graduating from Homestead HS in Cupertino, a BS in Human Development from the University of California, Davis, and an MA in Education, Reading Emphasis from Santa Clara University. I taught second grade for 19 years at Santa Rita, and 5 years ago moved into a new role as the literacy intervention specialist. I love the feeling now of walking around the school to collect students for groups as much as I did gathering my neighborhood friends in the 1980s. LASD is a supportive and wonderful place to work; I am fortunate to also experience its amazingness as a parent! My husband (a CPA) and I have a daughter and two sons (ages 17, 14, and 9); our home is filled with noise, mess, energy, and love. I enjoy photography, watching HGTV, walking, pickleball, reading, and sleeping.

Updated August 2022