Welcome to 3rd grade! I am so excited about starting the 2022-2023 school year! We are going to have an awesome year! 

I am a North Carolina native. I was born and raised in Wayne County in the Grantham community, where I attended elementary school (Go Bulldogs!) and high school at Southern Wayne (Go Saints!). I grew up in a small rural community where I helped farm tobacco and enjoyed youth activities in my small country church. It was there at Grantham Elementary where I decided to become a teacher. Funny enough, it was my 3rd grade teacher who inspired me to be a teacher. Thanks Mrs. Anderson for inspiring me so many years ago. My favorite things are watching movies, spending time with my family, the beach, Harry Potter, and the Wizard of Oz. A fun fact about myself was that I performed in the school play of The Wizard of Oz as the Wicked Witch and was on a local TV station.

My favorite people are my family. My husband is a retired Marine who I met when he was stationed at Camp LeJeune and then the adventure began and history was made.  I have children who, as you might imagine, have made life interesting and so much fun. My oldest is a "new" graduate who will be attending Coastal Community this fall, a daughter who will be in 8th grade and my youngest will be joining her at middle school as a 6th grader. I am now a "fur mama" to Natasha and Roxy, who came to us a few months ago from a friend. 

My life after high school led me to attend the University of Mount Olive (formerly Mount Olive College)  for 2 years before transferring to UNC-Wilmington. I attended UNC-Wilmington for 3 years and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English. After graduating, I went to Union Middle School to teach 8th grade ELA for a year and then my husband had orders to Beaufort, SC. While in Beaufort, I was a teaching assistant in a kindergarten class on base and worked with some wonderful teachers who taught me so much about an elementary classroom. When we returned to Camp LeJeune, I went back to school to get my Elementary Education certificate. So, I returned to UNC-Wilmington to finish my education degree and pursue my dream of being a teacher. I graduated and began substituting on base (Johnson Primary and Tarawa Terrace), learning so much from the wonderful teachers who worked there. Then, 7 years ago, I came to Parkwood, became a Panda, and a 3rd grade teacher. I love being at Parkwood and the family that I have here, especially in 3rd grade (I am blessed by our wonderful school and my team).

I welcome and value parent involvement during the school year, so please contact me if you have concerns. As a teacher and parent, I know how valuable and precious time is, so I will do my best to get back to you in a timely manner. I will try to respond to you within the same day, but please allow up to 24 hours for a response. My main mode of communication is Class Dojo, so please make sure to download this app. This will help with a quicker response back to you, as it is on my phone.