Biography
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I began my career as a teacher with a master’s degree in curriculum from Biola University and a professional clear credential in social studies. My first teaching assignment was in the Orange County Department of Education’s Alternative Correctional Educational Schools and Services (ACESS) program in 1997. In the Fall of 1997 I was selected as a teacher in the single gender school pilot program. As an incoming teacher I served on the site location selection team and school planning committee. I worked as a teacher at Single Gender Academies, an alternative high school for boys and girls in single gender settings, from October, 1997 to February, 2000. While at the school, I served as primary escort for California Governor Pete Wilson, who visited our school in the Spring of 1998. I served as the service learning mentorship coordinator of the school. Our mentoring program which linked adjudicated students with local community leaders from the school board, city commission, and business community was used as a model throughout the county. The academies served as the center for technology and videoconferencing. As a teacher and seminar leader, I videoconferenced with astronauts from NASA, students in Kosovo, and with museums, people, and places from around the country. In the spring of 2000, I accepted a position as a geography teacher at Kanapaha Middle School located in Gainesville Florida. In addition to geography, I have taught a critical skills course for retained sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and an intensive math skills course for students with low state test scores. In addition to my teaching responsibilities, I served as after school coordinator, coordinator, seventh grade team leader, acting dean, and acting assistant principal. I taught at Kanapaha from March, 2000 to June, 2003. I am currently the Non-violent Crisis Intervention Trainer for the School Board of Alachua County. I recently accepted the Dean of Students position at Newberry High School. I am currently enrolled in the Educational Leadership program at the University of Florida.