I have been teaching English at Hudson High School since 2000 and advised The Explorer newspaper until 2017-18. A love of backpacking, traveling, and teaching youth about the outdoors led me down the path to creating H2BE (Honors Biology and Honors English) with Susan Conroy, starting during the 2018-19 school year. We are thrilled to have the chance to introduce Hudson students to outdoor adventure! I also am excited to be teaching Drama as Literature and The Short Story this year.

In my previous career, I worked as a reporter for The Hudson Hub-Times as a features and school beat reporter; I made the switch to teaching after four years in the journalism field because I wanted to work with young people. I earned a Bachelor of Arts in English at Ursuline College and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Kent State University, and in 2008, I earned National Board Certification in teaching Language Arts, with a successful renewal in 2019.

In my spare time, I teach fitness classes at two local wellness centers -- my passions are reading, writing, hiking, and learning about other people's stories! My husband and I live in the country with our two cats, who ironically, are not allowed to play outdoors.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

“To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics... to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”                        -- Ralph Waldo Emerson