I began teaching for the St. Louis Archdiocese in 2004 at St. Pius X High School. Following my first year of teaching at St. Pius, I worked at St. Mary’s High School where I taught Spanish and health for 10 years. In addition to teaching, I mentored new teachers and facilitated teacher professional development at St. Mary’s. I have also worked as an educational consultant with Learning Horizon, Inc. Through that position I have presented at local, state, and national educational conferences, conducted webinars, and served as an educational resource for teachers around the world. I have worked with teachers from Wisconsin and California to Honduras and Australia.
I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and a minor in Spanish. I spent a summer studying the Spanish language and culture in Costa Rica while working on my undergraduate degree at Truman State University. My certification is in secondary Spanish. I also have a Master’s degree in Education and I am currently enrolled at Saint Louis University where I am pursuing a Doctorate of Education in Catholic Educational Leadership. I have completed all of my coursework and I am working on my dissertation although finding the time to work on it has not been easy.
I have been married to my husband Ryan since 2007. We have three awesome boys, Reid, Jack, and Will, who all attend Assumption. I grew up in Kirkwood with amazing parents, who taught me the value of hard work, a mischievous, but thoughtful younger brother, and a beautiful and kind younger sister, who I would regularly boss around. I attended Kirkwood public schools from kindergarten through high school. From there I went on to Truman where I followed my love of science and earned a biology degree. During high school and college I spent several years as a counselor and later as the director of Camp Kirkwood where I worked with children during my summers. However, after completing my degree, I had no idea what career path I wanted to pursue. One evening I went to a Bishop DuBourg basketball game with my future husband and I was reminded of my years at Kirkwood. The family climate, positive energy, and student spirit made me realize how much I missed school and later that week I enrolled in a Masters of Education program. I have not doubted that decision for a second, but every once in a while I wonder if I would have found my way to a career in education if Ryan had not dragged me to his alma mater that evening. The world of education is where I belong and I feel blessed to have found my second home and to be able to continue to do what I love here at Assumption.
I love to hang out with my husband and our children. A lot of our free time revolves around sports. We enjoy going to Cardinals and Rams games and watching sports on TV, especially baseball, football, and college basketball. During March Madness our house becomes particularly competitive over brackets even though I usually have the best bracket picks. I also love watching my children and their Assumption teammates play sports. During the summer we enjoy swimming and floating and family excursions to the zoo, parks, and lake. We also like to have regular family game nights and hang out playing board games.