I was born in 1998 in a city called Poughkeepsie, New York. I lived in a few places in New York for the first couple years of my life. When I was 2, my little brother was born. Just a few months after he was born, my dad got a job at Disney World, and my whole family moved to Orlando. Once we were in Orlando, I went to Pre-K at a school called Premiere Academy in Gotha.
For Kindergarten and 1st grade, I went to Lake Whitney Elementary, which is the elementary school right across the street from my parents' house. I tested into gifted when I was in Kindergarten, but the gifted program at Lake Whitney was not meeting my needs. In 2nd grade, I moved schools to Windy Ridge.
In 5th grade, my public school said that I would not be able to stay in the same program that I was in for elementary school since I was not zoned for that school, so my family went looking for another school for me. They found Orlando Science School, where I applied, was accepted, and ended up attending from 6th through 9th grade. OSS was a highlight for me, I genuinely enjoyed my time in middle school so much (and I think that's why I like teaching that age now). In middle school, I also started my competitive robotics journey, which has been a lifelong passion of mine.
In 10th grade, I started at Lake Highland because my family wanted to give me the best possible shot at applying to selective colleges, and LHPS is known for our college and career department. At LHPS, I helped Mr. Dettman start the Upper School robotics program, and spent a lot of time volunteering at aftercare. When I graduated, I won an award for all of my community service!
I started at UCF in the Fall of 2021. I spent 4 years studying computer science with a minor in education. I graduated in 2021 with my BS degree! In May of 2024, I graduated with my MAE degree in comptuer science education from UF Online.
I have been working at LHPS since 2017; I started just a couple months after graduating high school. At first, I was working aftercare at the Lower School, but I started to take on more roles as time went on. In 2018, I helped start the Lower School robotics program. In 2020, right after COVID hit, I started on the technology team. While on the technology team, I was able to teach a few tech classes, and I fell in love with teaching. I've been a full-time teacher since 2022, and I've been at the middle school since 2023. I'm really happy with where my career has taken me -- there's nowhere I'd rather be!