- What do you teach and/or what is your role? Please include sports and club sponsorships.
- A: I am the literacy coach here at Salem, which is awesome because it means that I get to have the best of both worlds and do all of my most favorite parts of education: I get to partner with teachers to create engaging and impactful lessons to help students learn and grow, and I get to directly assist students in achieving success in their classes and on various credit-bearing assessments.
- Where were you previously, and what brought you to Salem?
- A: This is my 21st year in education. I taught middle school (mostly 7th grade) in Norfolk, Chesapeake, and at Landstown Middle School in Virginia Beach until the 2024-2025 school year, when I transferred to Tallwood High School to teach 9th grade. I was thrilled to discover that I also love teaching and interacting with high schoolers, and have continued to be delighted as I have transitioned into working as a literacy coach. This is the first time in over 20 years I have done something other than be a classroom teacher, and I am really enjoying figuring out how to do an entirely new job. It didn’t hurt that the VPAA is here at Salem. I am an enthusiast of all things visual and performing arts, so I really feel like I have found my people in the staff and students here at Salem.
- What is your favorite thing about Salem so far?
- A: My favorite thing about Salem so far is how talented, kind, authentic, helpful, creative, hardworking, polite, and ambitious I find the vast majority of Salem SunDevils to be. High schoolers often get a bad reputation, but I want everyone to know what a wonderful student body we have here at Salem! A close second is having a front row seat to all of the great things happening in the arts here.
- What inspired you to go into education (or work in a school)?
- A: From a very young age all the way through high school, I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. That would have been a terrible idea, and kindergarteners everywhere should thank their lucky stars that it didn’t happen! After I graduated from Kempsville High in the mid-1990s, and inspired by my high school English teachers, I went to college and studied English and education, but towards the end of my BA degree, I took a left turn and changed my major to Psychology. After graduating from college, I worked in hospital emergency rooms as a psychiatric technician and even had a very short stint as a mental health case manager (definitely not for me). All the while, though, I kept thinking about working in education. I eventually went back to school to obtain my teaching license, and as soon as I made it into my classroom, I knew that teaching was where I was supposed to be.
- Share a fun fact about yourself (favorite music, hobbies, books).
- A: I am absolutely what you would call a Disney adult. I love the magic and wonder of all things Disney, and I am almost always counting down to my next Disney cruise or parks visit. My favorite Disney princess is Merida, but Maleficent is my all-time favorite character.
