When I was in elementary school, I had a strong desire to be a writer when I grew up. While I pursued my passion throughout my teenage years and in college, my all-knowing father insisted that teaching was truly the profession for me. Why would he think that way? Could it have been that from the time I was 10, I had become the neighborhood babysitter? Or, was it that I had been a counselor at summer camp for several years? Naturally, I rebelled and completed my BS in Journalism at Boston University. However, after working for a few years, I realized that I was destined to a career in education, which led me to gain my MS in Elementary Education from the University of Pennsylvania. Later, I continued higher education studies at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and at Santa Clara University. Before moving to California in 2000, I taught 4th grade in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where I was born and raised. Fortunately, I was hired by the Los Altos School District where both my daughters (22 and 25 now) were enrolled. After teaching both 4th and 6th grades at Springer School for 19 years, I moved over to Loyola where I have been teaching 5th grade since 2019. The district has been like a family to me, giving me a life filled with professional outlets and personal connections. Not only do I feel the team spirit within our schools in LASD, but with the families, too. The children I teach are in my heart forever, and they know I’m always here for them. When I’m not teaching or doing schoolwork, I enjoy running, hiking, reading, working on puzzles and cooking or baking.