Where are you from?
I hope you are ready for a complicated answer. :) I was born in Manila, Philippines, and moved to Niagara Falls, New York, when I was almost two. My dad joined the Navy and we moved to Waukegan, Illinois, for a while when he was in boot camp. His first duty station was on an island called Guam in the Pacific Islands. His next permanent change of station was to Virginia Beach, Virginia, which I consider my hometown since I started kindergarten and graduated from high school there. After I graduated, I moved around A LOT. I spent time in Roanoke, Virginia; Las Vegas, Nevada; Naples, Italy; St. Augustine, Melbourne, and Tampa, Florida; Albany, Oregon; and Sarasota, Florida. My family and I just moved back to Sarasota in June of 2015 from Oregon. We bought a house in the summer of 2016 and this should be the last move for a very long time. :)
Where did you go to college?
I have been to many colleges, so if you have any questions about what colleges are like, I have some answers! First, I went to an all-women's college in Virginia called Hollins College, but I wasn't ready for it. Other schools I've attended include Manatee Community College (now State College of Florida) in Bradenton; the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas; University of Maryland University College in Naples, Italy; Nevada State College in Henderson, Nevada; and, most recently, Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. I earned an Associate's Degree in Management Information Systems at State College of Florida back in 1999 and a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Arts in Education at Oregon State University in 2014.
So you just became a teacher? What other jobs have you done?
I have done a LOT of different kinds of work in my life! My first paid job was babysitting four kids full-time over summer vacation when I was a tenth grader. I worked at a grocery store, at a portrait studio, as a short-order cook, a waitress, a bank teller, a bank assistant manager, a restaurant owner, and a daycare worker in a gym (just to name a few!) My first job in education was as an educational assistant at a charter school in Henderson, Nevada. For one year, I student taught at a middle school in Albany, Oregon, and my first year of teaching was at a tiny charter school in a town called Sodaville, Oregon. My first year teaching in Florida was at Braden River Middle School was the 2015-2016 school year!!! Now I'm very proud to be a Nolan Colt!!
Did you put those words at the top in because they look weird?
One of the biggest pleasures I have found in life is talking with people who don't expect you to be able to talk with them. I have met the most interesting people and made friends around the world because of my interest in foreign languages. My first foreign language class was in the eighth grade, and since then, I have studied five: German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, and American Sign Language. I also grew up listening to Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines. Learning how to talk in another language has created advantages for me in many situations, and if you are interested in learning another language, come talk to me! Believe it or not, you can start to learn one without a teacher!
What else do you like?
I love to read! That's probably pretty obvious since I am a Language Arts teacher. I also enjoy writing poetry. You will often hear me singing in the classroom and hallways; I imagine that singing for me is like purring for a cat. My husband is a chef, which means that I had to learn to cook since he's never home at mealtimes. I play rhythm guitar, crochet, and make jewelry. There are still a million things I want to learn to do: improv theater, sewing, and writing a novel are at the top of my list.