Teacher who inspired me: Mrs. Barbara Voelker, who teaches here at Millmont, was my cooperating teacher when I was student teaching. She taught me all the little things that need to be taken care of so you can be at your best when teaching. She is always thinking about what is best for the kids, not about what is easiest to do. I try to keep that same attitude in my teaching.
Funniest classroom moment: I wanted to set up a math lesson by presenting the kids with a situation they could help me solve through addition. I started the lesson by saying, “Kids, I have a problem.” Right after I said that, one of my students said very seriously, “You work with kids?” It may be the best one-liner I have heard while teaching.
If I weren’t an educator, I’d be: I would definitely be doing something in the sciences. I watch and read everything I can on space and evolution. I also wouldn’t mind playing hockey for a living, if the Flyers are interested.
You might not know: I have gone swimming with sharks twice in my life. I “waded” with sharks, as my dad likes to say, at the Camden, N.J., aquarium. I also swam with sharks in the Dominican Republic. I hope someday to go cage diving with great white sharks.