After college and a stint in the Peace Corps, I dabbled in agriculture and biology in our nation's national parks and forests before returning to school to get my masters in Education and teaching credential in French. I taught high school French in Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Corvallis, Oregon before landing in Hood River at HRVHS 9 years ago.

My Why: I teach language to foster, promote and inspire cross-cultural and linguistic connections. I want my students to embrace differences with enthusiasm and curiosity and be equipped with tools to be global citizens. Acquiring languages and learning about cultures facilitates this process. Because we live in a culturally diverse world, we must give children the tools to foster connections so that we build positive, peaceful and diverse communities of people.

My What: I guide students on their own personal language and cultural acquisition journey. The French language isn't really a subject to be learned in high school, but rather a way to communicate while we talk about other subjects. We learn about each other, about our community, about the Francophone world and create imaginative stories together all in the target language. I remind students that they can all learn languages and we build on that capacity.