July 26, 2010

I grew up in Des Moines Iowa where I attended McKee Elementary School and Hoyt Middle School.  I graduated from East High School in 1992.  While growing up I swam on the East Des Moines Swim Team and played soccer both for 9 years.  I started coaching the summer swim team when I was 19 and I have continued on and off since then. 

I attended the University of Northern Iowa where I graduated in 1997 with a degree in Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education.  I was a member of the UNI Swimming Team, and was a co-captain my senior year.  “GO PANTHERS”! 

My husband Troy also graduated from UNI.  He was born and raised in Dubuque, Iowa.  Troy is a branch manager at USBank where he has worked for several years.  We have been married for 11 years and we have three children- Keagan, Kade and McKenna.  They are ages 10, 7 and 5.  As a family we enjoy going on vacations.  Disneyworld is one of our favorite vacation destinations.  We also enjoy hanging out at the swimming pool, going to amusement parks, playing games and of course reading books.   

We also enjoy watching sporting events as a family.  Our favorite teams are the Iowa Hawkeyes, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, and the UNI Panthers. Of course our most favorite teams to watch are any that our children are playing on.  My children are all very active in extra curricular activities which keep us busy all year long.   All three of my children swim on the swim team that my sister coaches and I help with.  They also play soccer for the Pleasant Hill Soccer League, the boys play baseball for Grandview Little League and my daughter dances at Becky’s in Pleasant Hill.  They all play basketball during the winter and they also sing in our church youth choir. 

I started my teaching career at Smouse Opportunity School in Des Moines.  I taught 2^nd and 3^rd grade students with Behavior Disorders for seven years.  While at Smouse I took graduate classes at Drake University.  I really enjoyed my time at Smouse, and didn’t think that I would ever leave.  Then in 2007 a first grade teaching position opened at Pleasant Hill and I didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to teach at such a great school.   The challenges at Pleasant Hill are different then the ones I faced at Smouse, but just as equally rewarding.