Biography



Welcome to my biography page. I have been teaching Spanish at Yellow Springs High School for nearly seventeen years! How time flies. I grew up near Oxford, Ohio, and I received my undergraduate degree and my Master's in English from Miami University in Oxford. In 1986, I had the opportunity to teach English Literature and Composition in a private, bilingual school in Cali, Colombia. I went to Cali with my son, Nicky, who was eight years old at the time. Those were hard times for Colombia and life-changing for me. I fell in love with the country, the language and culture. After three years of teaching English in Cali, I became the high school guidance counselor for two years. After Cali, I taught English in an open pit coal mining camp school in northern Colombia in a place called La Guajira. It was the most exciting, enriching and difficult year of my life. I returned to the United States the following year, and I taught GED classes at Mount Vernon Plaza as well as ESL classes to political refugees in Columbus, Ohio. That was a wonderful experience as well - full of life lessons and a humbling time. At the end of that year, 1993, my son and I returned to Medellin, Colombia. I taught high school English, and Nicky graduated from high school at The Columbus School, a bilingual, private school. During our years in Colombia, I had the opportunity to travel extensively in Colombia, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean.

In 1998, we returned to Ohio to be near my parents. I had great memories of Yellow Springs from earlier years of attending theater performances at Antioch College and countless visits to Yellow Springs which included some amazing walks in the Glenn. I was thrilled to become the Spanish teacher at Yellow Springs High School. Since I am licensed in English and Spanish, I even had the opportunity to teach English 11 during my first year here. I consider the opportunity to teach at YSHS one of the best opportunities of my life. It has been a rich experience. I am full of great memories of many great classroom experiences and students and some very exciting and fun Spanish Nights. The diversity of our schools is precious. The many talents and abilities of our students is well known, and I look forward to working with each and every student every year. Bueno, Nos vemos.