After graduating from Finneytown High School in 1978, I did a foreign exchange year in Sweden where I started my classical apprenticeship in ceramics. I studied there about two years in Sweden, and then did a journeyman potter's tour for about four months each in Norway and Greece.  Coming back to Washington D.C., I worked for two potters in the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia for about eight months.  I was graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1988 with a B.S.S.  My major was Communication Studies, and my area of concentration was Art, primarily in painting.  I then took two years of Graduate work in Speech Communication at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I studied medical communication.  From 2013- 2015 I enrolled in NC TEACH through East Carolina University and earned my Standard II Professional Teaching License.  I earned my National Board Certification in December of 2022.  Thank you to all those who supported me in this journey, especially my best friend and wife Suzanne.

I have been teaching off and on for over 30 years since 1978.  In Sweden as an exchange student I was expected to be an ambassador for the U.S.A., and go around to different schools and teach the students about life in America.  In Greece in 1982, I taught ELL to elementary students.  At Northwestern University from 1985-1988, I taught continuing education classes for Northwestern University in Ceramics.   From 1988-1990, I taught five sections of Public Speaking at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and was also a T.A. for Public Speaking, Legal Argumentation, and The Philosophy and Ethics of Legal Argumentation.   In 1993, my wife Suzanne and I built an art studio on our property, and we have been making and teaching art and ceramics since that time. I taught day and evening classes for both adults and children there from 1993 - 2013.  During this time,  I was also a second grade assistant in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School system for two years at Carrboro Elementary, then one more year as a fourth grade assistant at Frank Porter Graham Elementary.   From 2000 - 2001 I taught High School Art for The Woods Charter School in Chapel Hill, NC, and used the Cambridge System for building art portfolios and for assessment. Two of my students took and passed the Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) Diploma.  From 1996 - 2004 I taught Art and Ceramics classes for The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, NC.    Since 1995, I have been leading art workshops for many schools in Alamance, Orange, and Durham counties in North Carolina, as well as for Duke University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  In 2012 my wife Suzanne and I hosted several students from China's Beijing Royal School for a Ceramics workshop.  In 2014 we then hosted another set of Chinese students from five high schools from China organized by the Global Education Institute.  That said, my current home at Parkwood is far and away the best experience I've ever had.  That's why I'm so thrilled to come to work every day and serve our students.  I've been teaching Art at Parkwood Elementary since 2013, and feel so grateful to share my love of Art and community building with the Parkwood students, staff, and parents!

I grew up in Finneytown, Ohio which is located just north of Cincinnati, Ohio.  My mother was a teacher, as were two of my brothers.  My father was a chemical engineer after he served as a radio corpsman in the Navy for 2 years at the end of WWII. After my mother died when I was 17, my father remarried a wonderful woman, Doris.  Doris grew up in Wuhan, China. Her parents were missionaries.  They left when the war broke out. My aunt was a teacher.  My father's father was a professor/Methodist Minister and my father's mother was an elementary teacher.  My wife Suzanne is now a retired art teacher.  We all believe that teaching is one of the best ways to live a great life and give back to the community.  We also enjoy serving our community through our church, and other institutions of goodwill.

My wife Suzanne and I have three children.  Their names are Avery, Anna, and Rosie. We love them dearly and are very proud of them.  My son  Avery is married to Danielle.  Danielle brought Dawson into the family with her, and now Avery and Danielle also have a girl, Calliope Ava Stites. This summer, more joy was added with another girl Juniper Stites. So exciting:) 

Suzanne and I share our home with four dogs (Teddy, Big D, Kaylene, our new rescue Olivia/Katie)  and four cats (Georgia, Daisy/Little Cat, Baxter, and another rescue Louie) that keep us very busy, amused, and sometimes wake us up at 1:30 in the morning;)

We lived in Chapel Hill, NC since 1988, yet are now very excited about the move we made to the Jacksonville, NC area in 2013.   We love it here at Parkwood Elementary!