Character Teacher and After School Program Coordinator

Years at CDS:

2019-20 will be my fourth year

When did you decide to become a teacher?

I started teaching private music lessons in high school and continued to do so all the way through college and graduate school, where I was studying music. Even though my plan growing up was to become a professional musician, I always loved teaching and continued to pursue it more and more as I got older. It wasn’t long after graduation that I decided to shift my focus from music to working with kids full-time, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!

Favorite vacation spot?

To help pay for college, I worked in construction and landscaping for many years in Maui, Hawaii. Between traveling there countless times for work and vacation, the island became like a second home to me. To this day, I love to travel and have been fortunate to have visited 19 countries so far. Of all the places I’ve visited, Maui still holds a special place in my heart.

Who are your role models? Who inspires you?

My very first role model was Steve Martin. By the time I was in the fourth grade, I had every one of his comedy albums memorized! To this day, I am inspired by the people who, like Steve, dedicate their lives to bringing joy to the world through comedy and laughter. To me, this is as respectable a profession as any other (with the exception of teaching, of course).

How do you define success?

Some people would define “success” as earning a ton of money or making some huge scientific discovery. I prefer to think of success as a journey rather than a destination.

To me, just making a conscious effort to be your best person and to make a positive contribution to the world around you each day, no matter how small, would be considered a success!