I am very excited to be joining Clayton Middle School this year! I am entering my seventeenth year teaching and have also worked as a healthcare recruiter and optician.  I grew up running around barefoot in the muddy creeks of New Bern and nearby Bogue Banks fishing, crabbing, and swimming.  I came to Raleigh after high school to study Zoology at N.C. State.  A summer trip out West introduced me to the Colorado mountains, which enticed me to take a semester off school and then later return after graduation, where I got a job managing a small optical lab.  I eventually bacame homesick and returned to North Carolina.  Inspired by a thrilling and rigorous high school class called Coastal Biology, I decided to become a teacher.  I began teacher training at NC State while working in the classroom as a lateral entry teacher.   Over the years I have had the privilage to have been trained in STEM and International Baccalaureate pedagogy.  I strive to bring a rich, challenging, and exiting experience to all of my students in the classroom.  When not teaching, I enjoy working around the yard, reading, sailing, and watching N.C. State athletics.