Stoop Cat, the family celebrity.
I was born in St. Petersburg, Florida and spent my childhood moving to several different cities before finally landing in Winter Springs, which I consider to be my home town. My dad is from Niagara Falls, New York and works in title insurance, and my mom is a stay-at-home mother who has a degree in Special Education from the University of Maine at Farmington. My maternal grandmother was an English teacher and my maternal grandfather taught biology, so you could say that education is in my blood!
I have two younger sisters, both college-aged, and our family has several cats. If you're interested, you can follow one of them at @Stoopagram on Instagram.
I have two younger sisters, both college-aged, and our family has several cats. If you're interested, you can follow one of them at @Stoopagram on Instagram.
Throughout my life I have cycled through several career aspirations, and have wanted to be everything from a teacher to an aerospace engineer to a judge. My mother has said I should be a math teacher since I was in the 7th grade - I didn't agree with her until much later!
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In 2013 I graduated from Winter Springs High School and began my post-secondary education at Michigan State University. I was fortunate to be selected as one of 16 Alumni Distinguished Scholars in my freshman class, an honor which came with a full tuition scholarship and stipend for room and board. Originally my major was in Music Education, with the French horn as my primary instrument. After the first semester, I realized that a math classroom was much more suited to my academic and professional interests. During my undergraduate education, I continued pursuing music as a hobby while studying math; I also had the opportunity to work in the MSU Child Emotions lab, on a study of children's emotional responses to tasks. I completed my Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics in the spring of 2017. |
As part of MSU's highly-esteemed Teacher Preparation Program, after my undergrad I completed a year-long student teaching internship. Because of my love for urban education and passion for working with vulnerable populations, I decided to apply to complete my internship as part of the selective Chicago Public Schools cohort. I spent the 2017 - 2018 school year working and learning at Air Force Academy High School, a public selective-enrollment college prep school on the south side of the city.
