Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, I am the youngest of three girls. My entire family consists of teachers and lawyers, so naturally, as a rebellious youngest, I was against entering the field of education all together.
I was an average student in high school and college. I had "a lot of potential," according to my teachers, but never really knew the value of my education until I went to college.
I attended Syracuse University as a communications major. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but knew I wanted to work with people, wanted to write, and wanted to be in a creative field.
Needing to be closer to home, I finished up my college years at the University of Delaware as a working student. As if “communications” wasn’t a vague enough field, I chose to finish UD with an English major. With that major, it seemed that every time I met a new person, I would encounter the same question, “English?? What do you want to do…teach?” I always replied in the same manner: with a scrunched up nose and disgusted look, “NO!!”
…until I graduated.
And had no idea what I wanted to do.
And a family friend, who worked at Wilmington University, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He said, “We don’t have anything exactly like your major, but just take one master’s course. I’ll pay for it. Just to do something.” I took him up on the offer, registered for an education course and was hooked. I earned my master’s degree in Elementary Education in a year and a half.
I liked it so much that I continued on to begin earning my M.Ed. in Reading Education.
I worked as a substitute for many years until landing my first job teaching 7th grade ELA at St. Elizabeth’s Elementary School in Wilmington, DE (and LOVED it) but always wanted to teach college. It seemed that my sense of humor, honesty, and compassion was a great fit for hormonal teenagers who were making the big transition to responsibility and individuality. I enjoyed being creative every day and loved the interaction with the students. Baseball games, talent shows, plays, you name it...I was there to support "my kiddos" partly because I enjoy all of those types of functions, but mostly because my students knew I cared and that they could trust me. However, my real passion was to teach in a higher education setting.
Three years later, I became an adjunct at Del Tech Stanton in August of 2009 and truly enjoyed the change. I ended up using the same skills and strategies for my college students as I did for my seventh graders, just adapted a bit and taught for a higher level set of critical thinking skills. I found I was able to be even more creative to keep these students, many that worked full time, had children, or other pressing obligations, engaged and excited about their learning. My focus? To help them understand the value of the concepts and discover how to apply these skills to their every day life and future careers.
As an adjunct, I taught numerous classes and interacted with my colleagues and department chair on a regular basis. However, I missed that sense of true community. I needed somewhere to belong. In December of 2012, I applied for the Developmental English Instructor position at the Del Tech Owens campus in Georgetown, Delaware. I interviewed on a Monday, was offered the position on a Wednesday, signed a lease on Thursday, and signed my contract on Friday. And I have never been happier.