I’m excited for this journey. I just love people. One of my passions is helping people reach their potential. I felt like as a teacher I could do that with the students. Then, as a gifted resource specialist I could help coach the teachers a little. Then I kind of ventured into the assistant principal role and I really liked that as well. But I feel like in this role I have a great sense of how to help everybody with reaching their full potential and I feel like this role gives me a bigger opportunity to do that. I love building relationships and community; I have a niche for instruction and relationships. I get to do all of that. What an opportunity! It’s a blessing.
Do you have any favorite memories from school when you were a student?
I have favorite people. I actually had a 10th grade teacher who is still at Princess Anne High School who my 19-year-old also had, Mrs. Davis. When you talk about pushing people to their potential – I picked up so much from that woman. She was tough but she loved me and I knew she loved me, and that’s just something I took away from her – just pushing, gently pushing people to their comfortable edge. She did that for me. She did that for my daughter. I’ve never seen my daughter come alive like that.
And Matt Delaney was my world geography teacher at Princess Anne. Like Mrs. Davis, Mr. Delaney was a genuine teacher who cared about his students. He was also a huge motivator and an engaging teacher. He kept the class focused with humor and content. I was fortunate to learn from some pretty passionate educators who wanted what was best for their students. I’ve taken that with me as well. Mr. Delaney and Mrs. Davis are just a few shining examples of how believing in students and refusing to give up on them can help them reach their goals.
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
My favorite place is the beach. We spend a lot of time there. Obviously, with this new venture I won’t be traveling as much but we are going to take a week in Florida with the girls. That’s one thing we try to do every summer. We’ll do our week in Florida and other than that, I’m loving on my three girls and enjoying some down time. I love yoga and mindfulness. That’s what I do a lot when I’m not at work. It helps me keep my balance so I can be the best me for everybody else.
#WeAreVBSchools
