I was born and raised in Salem. Once I graduated high school in 2001, I moved down to Eugene to go to the UO, and have been there more or less ever since. While at the UO, I majored in Anthropology and Sociology, and minored in English and Business Administration. Besides being busy with studying, I was extra busy during the Fall being in the Oregon Marching Band for 4 years. While in college I was also lucky enough to go on an Archaeological dig in the Caribbean and did a six month internship at Walt Disney World.
After college I stayed in Eugene and have held a wide range of jobs from retail to warehouse shipping to administration and beyond. Earlier this year I did a stint with Americorps and the Northwest Youth Corps and backpacked in the backcountry of Southeastern Arizona in the Coronado National Forest. It was an intensive 42 night trail maintenance/leadership program and now that I have survived the ordeal I am now trained in leading 14-19 year olds in similar 'sensory/technologically deprivation' tours. After completing the trip I realized how much I wanted to go back to school and teach. I've always toyed with the thought of teaching and have always loved working with kids and decided it was the right time to start a program such as this and do what I've always wanted.
Outside of academics and careers, I have more than a few hobbies to keep myself busy and occupied. I've always loved the theatre and have been a part of it in some capacity most of my life. I love going to movies and the theatre. I've always been an outdoorsy type of individual and go camping and hiking whenever I can. I've been playing the clarinet since I was in 6th grade, and did 8 years of marching band in high school and college. I took 4 years off and am currently in the Alumni Band and played at the UO game against Purdue last weekend. As I said before I live in Eugene, and am currently redecorating our house for halloween. Our house is somewhat of a zoo with 3 cats, a ridiculous amount of fresh & salt water fish, and the inside/outside of our house looking more and more like a scene out of New Orleans Square at Disneyland every day.
So far, the Aspire program has been perfect for me since I live out of town, with the right amount of classes and structure. I'm excited about this class and how I'll be able to apply it to my own classroom in the future. Just thinking about the advances technology has gone through since I was in school is mind blowing, it's constant, always changing and affecting our lives in areas we never even dreamt of a few years ago.
