About Me
I spent from my second grade year to my high school graduation at Mooseheart, Illinois. Mooseheart is a residential childcare facility, located on a 1,000-acre campus 38 miles west of Chicago. The Child City is a home for children and teens in need, from infancy through high school. The Moose fraternal organization, MOOSEHEART, cares for youth whose families are unable, for a wide variety of reasons, to care for them. Some have lost one or both parents; others are living in environments that are simply not conducive to healthy growth and development. Whatever the reason, the men and women of the Moose, through unparalleled generosity and volunteerism, furnish the resources necessary to care for children in need. (
www.mooseheart.org)
While at Mooseheart, I spent two summers with the Youth Conservation Corps in Yellowstone National Park. I (
http://www.nps.gov/yell/parkmgmt/yccjobs.htm) I built bridges, fences, broke trail, restored cabins, and spent weeks camping out in the beautiful national park. Because of Yellowstone, I gained an appreciation for the west and attended college at the University of Montana, Missoula.
Two of my college summers were spent in Germany working at a Hotel and Restaurant. I learned to speak German there and had so much fun travelling throughout Europe.
The other two summers I spent on the Clearwater National Forest as a Trail Crew Member and Firefighter. My senior year I worked on the NASA Earth Observing System Education Project as an Intern and then recieved a full time position for the year that followed. I traveled throughout the United States teaching teachers technology, GIS, and NASA tools.
From the EOS Education Project I realized my love for teaching and found a job in Honduras, Central America where I taught second grade Honduran students. I had an amazing year there and that is where I learned to get by speaking Spanish.
When I returned to America, I took a Forest Service Firefighting position and met my husband the second day I was back in the states.
I worked with the Forest Service for 6 more years while earning my Masters Degree in Education from the University of Phoenix Online.
To have more time with our children, In 2007 I took a position with the Mountain View School District 244 as the Technology and Reading Teacher. I had an amazing and fulfilling year and am returning for another great experience.
I have had experience with Online courses, English as a Second Language, Teaching, Curriculum Development and Web Design.