I teach English IV, English IV-Honors, French I, and French II. I graduated from McDowell High School in 1988 and earned my BA in Secondary English Education with an endorsement in French from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I was a recipient of the North Carolina Teacher Fellows Scholarship, in 1993. I have completed extensive graduate and post-baccalaureate study in literature, writing, and pedagogy at numerous institutions, including Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English; University of North Carolina, Charlotte; University of California Berkeley; University of California; Los Angeles; Stanford University; and the University of Edinburgh. Over the course of more than thirty years, I have taught at North Mecklenburg High School, Huntersville, NC; McAteer High School, San Francisco, CA; Carlmont High School, Belmont, CA; and McDowell High School. I was honored to serve as McDowell High and McDowell County Schools Teacher of the Year for the 2024-2025 school year.

It has been a joy to return to McDowell County to teach at my alma mata and to share with the young people of my first and dearest home whatever good I have gained during my travels. My colleagues at McDowell County Schools remind me by their passion, knowledge, wisdom, and love that ours is a high calling, and my students remind me that the world is full of love and light. For all of this and more, I thank McDowell County Schools. My gratitude to my colleagues and students is boundless. Teaching is the best job in the world.

In my life outside of school, I am an obsessive fan of Diana Ross and the Supremes. I am also the proud human of two dogs and five cats.