I’ve loved growing and learning. For myself as a kid, books were my favorite - I love to learn new things through the stories and how the characters grew and changed over time. And in school, learning new things to help me navigate the world around me brought me so much joy.

A self-proclaimed teachers pet that eventually became a teacher myself! In education I found that, just like the stories I read, I could help my students become better people. That it wasn’t at all about just the academics - how to add or how to spell - but it was all about WHO they were becoming.

The teaching I did was different. Because I focused on the underlying story of each of my students lives. Who they were, where they were from, what their skills and strengths were, and where they wanted to go. I focused on what I realize now was their B story.

This was so important to me that I didn’t want to just help my class full of students character to develop, I wanted all teachers to be able to do the same. I began doing a lot of teacher training, helping other teachers grow and develop their students in academics yes - but more than that. Through reading, writing, and my main focus of through science.

I ended up co-creating a science curriculum for the younger grades that has shown that it not only taught the academic standards needed, but also improved life skills like resiliency, self-efficacy, and critical thinking.