I grew up in a small, rural, New Jersey town, Ringwood, which over the summer just got its very first traffic light. I would like to say that I was an artist since childhood, but that wasn’t the case. I always enjoyed art in school, and my mom was very crafty, but I never seemed to be good enough to make it to gifted and talented art program. It wasn’t until sixth grade, during a painting project, when my raccoon actually looked like a raccoon, that I realized that I could paint. One thing led to another, and I began to gain confidence in my talent, but most importantly, I could relax during art class, something I wasn’t able to do in all my other classes.
I graduated from a regional high school, where two other towns attended, and began Ramapo College in the fall of 2001. Originally, I was playing with the idea of majoring in Environmental Science, and becoming a science teacher. Even though I took art throughout high school, my most influential class was my freshman year Environmental Science class. But, my first official college science class was not what I was expecting, and I barely made it out with a B. With that being said, the spring semester I took my first drawing class and I was hooked, its been art ever since.
I did my student teaching at Ridgefield Park High School, and became and art teacher in the Lyndhurst School District in October 2007. I have been teaching in the Lyndhurst School District for eight years, and it feels like my second home. One of the main reason I love teaching in Lyndhurst, is I get to teach upper level art classes at the high school, then go to the elementary school and teach kindergarten in the afternoon. Its so much fun seeing how excited the students get when I walk into the kindergarten classroom with my arms full of supplies.
I married my college sweetheart on July 24th, 2010; the hottest day of the year, I believe it reached 107 degrees, I quickly realized wearing a 10 pound wedding dress was a poor choice. After, we bough a house, I was able to talk my husband into adopting a puppy from a local rescue organization called A Pathway to Hope. Slater, our dog, is about a year and a half, and is the best dog around! Every day I look forward to going home and taking Slater for a nice long walk in the Emerson Woods where I bring my camera and take pictures of the surrounding nature and migratory birds.
As I continue my education at Ramapo, I am looking forward to learning about new ideas in technology and how to bring them into my classroom. Continuing my education will not only benefit myself but my students as well as we explore new ways to use technology in the art classroom.