Meet our founder

My path in teaching to where I am currently has not been a conventional one.  Upon graduation from California State University San Marcos in 2006, my next steps were governed by my desire to help children.  After many years of side-tutoring and volunteering with students of various ages, coupled with my love for at-risk youth, I knew that being a teacher was my calling.

 

Following a return to school and obtaining my teaching credential in 2007, I started working as a resident visiting teacher for National City School District at Lincoln Acres Elementary.  Observing many layoffs in the teaching profession in San Diego, I packed my bags and headed to Asia to fulfill a dream of teaching abroad.  I settled in Seoul, South Korea, where I taught English to third to sixth grade students by day and adults by night – somehow making time to begin pursuing my master’s degree in education in parallel.  I was proud: I was working toward larger goals and had landed my first official teaching job.  It just wasn’t where I thought it would be.

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My time in Seoul taught me many things, but primarily resilience.  Being an English-only speaker in a country where English is not the first language presented significant challenges, but the experience connected me to what it was like to be a newcomer in the states.  I had previously taught migrant workers in fields in Carlsbad, California through a program at the university where I graduated, and now I better understood the frustration, exhaustion, and confusion of their everyday life.  Wanting to further connect to this experience in living conditions far less accommodating than mine in Seoul, I left South Korea and traveled south to Cambodia.

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In Cambodia I visited People Improvement Organization (PIO), started by Phymean Noun.  In 2002 she was at the forefront of starting one of what is now several schools with 1,400 students enrolled.  I showed up in 2007 to her first school started in a landfill outside Phnom Penh.  My eyes were opened, to say the least – I clearly saw that anything is possible for anyone through education.  I thanked Phymean Noun for her time and went back to Seoul, where my students became pen pals with PIO students.  At this time, I truly realized the importance of education and felt the bigger influence a teacher can have on any single life.  My time in Korea was coming to a close, but I always kept Phymean’s determination in mind.

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Back in San Diego where the job market was still difficult, I landed a long-term substitute position at Perkins Elementary in Barrio Logan teaching seventh and eighth grade.  I knew that jobs were scarce, but I kept showing up, working or volunteering, and I believe Principal Fernando Hernandez hired me simply because I refused to leave.  I earned my master’s degree from CSUSM about a month later and ended up teaching at Perkins for seven years.

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I was fortunate to have several mentors at Perkins, where I grew substantially as an educator and developed my own teaching philosophy.  While the specifics have evolved over time, above all I believe every child should feel safe, acknowledged, and loved.  Students become scholars when expectations are high yet attainable, when equity is present and thriving, and when relationships are strong between caregivers, teachers, and students.  Accordingly, every year I strive to focus on expectations, equity, and building and strengthening relationships.

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In addition to being a grade level leader at Perkins, I was an AVID trip chaperone, Community Service Club organizer, volunteer soccer coach, and tried to be involved in anything else I could.  I changed grade levels most years and taught anything from first through eighth grade, which taught me patience and flexibility.  I made sure I worked hard and that the students saw me working hard, so that they would see and follow the example I set.  I developed relationships with students, families, and community members alike.  Through these relationships, I was able to build respect both in and out of the classroom while holding high expectations for all students.  I believe the students met these elevated expectations because of the fostered equity, safety, and love I tried to provide along the way. 

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Seeking a new challenge after seven years, I moved to Audubon in 2016, where I’m grateful to have experienced grade level stability.  I taught first grade my first six years, then looped this year with my previous class to second grade.  In my classroom we have a mantra that we say every morning:

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I am kind.  I am smart.  I am loved.  I am resilient.  I am a wonderful person.  I have integrity.  I’ve got this because I matter.

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When you walk into the classroom, my hope is that you feel joy, love, and my true passion for teaching.  I want my students to be scholars, but also good humans who are productive in society, so integrity is practiced and recognized daily.  You would see leaders and thinkers engaged.  You would hear words of encouragement, wrongs being righted, and mistakes being made.  Teaching and learning are messy but when relationships are strong, anything can be accomplished.

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While I am first and foremost teacher to my students in room 616, Audubon has also afforded me the opportunity to be an active participant in several teams and councils.  As part of the Instructional Leadership Team, I’ve learned so much through the Integrated Multi-Tiered System of Support training through Jennifer Hoogerhide, the SWIFT team, and the Marzano Highly Reliable Schools with Tammy Heflebower.  I was voted by my peers to the School Site Council board for the past four years, two of which I was secretary.  Additionally, as teacher liaison for the Parent Teacher Organization, I organized a Winter Wish program that has taken place three years in a row, centered around pairing generous local donors with Audubon families.  The 2022 Winter Wish program reached 24 families and 67 children!

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In this role for the PTO, I also secured funding from donors to create eight different after-school activities for various grade levels throughout the school year in consecutive years, adding a ninth program this current year.  From language and multicultural art programs to emotional support and computer coding programs, they are fun and engaging and give students a safe place to go at the end of the school day to learn new skills.  More than one hundred students attend these after-school programs each year! 

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I believe that creating and managing these programs is my biggest accomplishment and where I’ve been able to make a greater impact beyond just my classroom.  Through these programs, I build and strengthen relationships with students and families, while promoting a love of learning for students across multiple grade levels.  Watching them grow and thrive and apply these new skills has been incredibly rewarding, and consistently reminds me of the importance of education and its many ways in which it positively influences lives.