Where do you teach?

Fort Dodge Middle School.

What grade/subject do you teach?

Seventh-grade social studies.

Why do you teach?

Seventh grade is about geography and how people are influenced by their land and their surrounding world.

What is your favorite part of the school day?

I like early in the morning. I’m a morning person and I enjoy watching all the kids come in, some awake, some still asleep.

What are you working hardest on right now?

I just finished graduate school, so I am very proud of that. However, in a teaching capacity, I’m definitely working on developing our kids’ willingness to take chances and fail. All levels are afraid to take chances and be vulnerable. It’s my goal to change that mindset.

What are you most proud of as a teacher?

So many things, but I truly enjoy seeing my former students out and about and catching up. However, I think I’m most proud that each day is a new day for all students and a chance to get better.

What makes you the happiest as a teacher?

I enjoy many facets of my job, interacting with students and adults, but in particular, any time you can develop the confidence of individuals to grow in whatever capacity.

How do you contribute to/how are you involved in our

community outside of school?

I’m an avid supporter of Fort Dodge athletics and the fine arts. I coach middle school football. They talked me out of retirement for seventh-grade middle school girls basketball. I’m an amateur news journalist as I publish the Miller tribune for our student-athletes after athletic contests.

What are your interests and hobbies outside of school?

Outside of school, you can always find me either with friends or my dog. Usually this involves Iowa athletics and or music and food.

What do you wish your students/families knew

about you?

I was born and raised a Dodger. This community helped me develop into who I am today. This is a great community, and I want to help grow and showcase all the great things that are happening within our community.

What does Together We Rise mean to you?

I seem to recall an old adage I heard, there’s two things people hate: change and the way things are now. Together We Rise I believe means that we have to be dependent upon one another’s various strengths to help one another and reach our full potential. As Rudyard Kipling said, “The strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”