Sharing My Story

Growing up on my family's dairy farm in Wayside, Wisconsin, I learned what it meant to work hard and make a living off the land. My parents always welcomed people into our home including foreign exchange students and foster children, so I learned to cook and manage a household at a fairly young age. I also grew to appreciate diversity and culture! These skills have all served me well as an adult. I got my education at a parochial grade school, a public high school and a Big 10 University. I love the challenge of being an educator and staying current as things trend in and out of our field. I especially enjoy working with people as they discover who they are, what they stand for, what motivates them, and what they want and need.

I currently work as a counselor and character coach at Westwood-Bales. I graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science degree in English and Spanish. I began a Spanish Department in a small high school in central Wisconsin before heading to Texas in 1985. I taught Spanish and ESL classes at North Shore Middle School for a year before moving to FISD to teach Spanish and coach volleyball and softball at Friendswood High School.

My education includes earning a Master of Science degree from the University of Houston Clear Lake in Education in 1989, followed by a Master of Science degree in Counseling in 1994. After 16 years of teaching and counseling at the secondary level, I decided to try elementary school and have found my niche as the counselor and character coach at Westwood-Bales. 


Writing is one of my sparks and this blog has been an amazing outlet for that passion.  Prior to blogging, my work has been published in Teaching Tolerance magazine, Teaching preK-8 magazine, Change magazine, Daughters magazine, and the MO Counseling Interviewer. Now I've written monthly blogs for the Josephson Institute of Ethic's Character Educator and mostly recently for Really Good Stuff and The Teachers' Lounge. I've also been invited to guest blog at Inside The School, Books That Heal Kids, Cachey Mama's Classroom, Teach Forever, and I Can Teach My Child. I've also written a guest post for Kleinspiration (thanks Erin!) and was recognized at author Maria Dismondy's blog.


Welcome to the Corner!