About

I was born and raised in South Florida, where I spent my youth snuggling with my dog (a golden retriever named Nugget), watching the Power Rangers, and playing video games. As a teen, I played flute in marching band and dressed up in “garb” for FLARF, also known as the Florida Renaissance Festival. Academically, I excelled in math and science, but I chose to major in English after an amazing experience with my 11th grade English teacher exposed me to the awesome world of literature. After graduating as valedictorian from high school, I enrolled at the University of Florida, where I received a B.A. in English (2006) and an M.Ed. in English Education (2007).

During my ten years as a high school English teacher, I taught many subjects, including remedial reading, literature, linguistics, and even photojournalism (which ironically led me into a 10+ year in running my own photography business)! During my time in the classroom, I saw how the affordances of technology could leveraged to excite and educate students. This passion for teaching with technology eventually led me back to UF to complete my Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction (2022).

For personal hobbies, I am quite a “dabbler” in many things! Of course, above all hobbies, tennis has been a big part of my life for many years; I picked up a racket for the first time when I was 16 and have been playing consistently ever since. I’ve had the privilege of competing on many competitive USTA and ALTA teams and have also the coached two award-winning high school boys tennis teams back in Florida.

If you wish to read more about me, please visit this Q&A section!