GROWING UP: I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in a family of five. My dad served in the U.S. Air Force to fight in the Vietnam War then later served his community with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. My mom retired after 17 years of teaching middle school math. My older brother works for the city of Fullerton, and my younger sister is a labor and delivery nurse for Kaiser Permanente.
EDUCATION: I had 12 years of private Catholic schooling. I graduated from Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills. I received a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from CSU Long Beach. I attended CSU Northridge and earned an English Single-Subject Teaching Credential. I returned to college 20 years later to earn a Master of Arts in Education in Educational Technology from Concordia University, Irvine.
TEMECULA: After three years of teaching at Bellarmine-Jefferson High School in Burbank, I moved to Temecula in 1998, when I was hired by Temecula Valley High School. Through the years, I have taught ELA9, ELA 11 and AVID. I have also coached freshman volleyball. With the birth of my son, it was too difficult to balance raising a family, grading English papers, and coaching volleyball. "THE" Temecula Valley High School has been my home for over 20 years. Go Bears!