I graduated from high school at Ortonville High School in Ortonville, MN in 1979. I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education and Remedial and Corrective Reading in 1983 from Moorhead State University in Moorhead, MN. I then attended St. Cloud State University where I obtained a licensure in K-12 Special Education: Learning Disabilities and Mildly Mentally Handicapped in 1988. Next, I earned my Master’s Degree in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Reading in 1996.

 

I taught from 1983-1987 in the Marietta-Nassau Public Schools in Marietta, MN. I taught Elementary Reading, Elementary PE, and a third and fourth grade combination elementary classroom during different years. In the fall of 1987 I was hired in the Crosby-Ironton public schools. I have taught 1^st grade, 4^th grade and Jr. High Special Education.

 

I became a teacher because it was all I ever knew from the time I was born. I come from an immediate and extended family who are almost exclusively teachers or administrators (except for a couple farmers who took over the family farms in Northwestern Minnesota). When I was very young I used to help my mom in her kindergarten classroom after school and on weekends and then run down to the other end of the building and help my dad in his Industrial Arts classroom. When I was a junior and senior in high school I helped out in a first grade classroom during my study hall. Soon after I became a water safety instructor and fell in love with teaching swimming lessons. All of this rather predisposed me to wanting to become a teacher. My parents and family members love teaching and I fell in love with it, too.

 

I enjoy swimming, snow skiing, reading, going to movies, karaoke, singing, music, walking, hanging out with my friends, working out at the fitness center (well maybe not that much) and am involved in many church related activities.