All about me!
All about me!
I was born and raised in Moline, Illinois. Currently, my mother is a nurse and does home health care, and my father teaches physics at Bettendorf High School, where he is in charge of a very cool planetarium. I have an older sister and brother-in-law (Kris and Bret) who live in New Mexico who gave me my first niece, Madeline, on November 24, 1998 and my 2nd niece, Elizabeth on August 10th, 1999. They are the youngest people I know who have their own web pages! Click on their names to see them! My younger brother Karl is an exceptional trumpet player who attends the Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia. My younger sister Devon is an excellent violist who attends the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics Education from Western Illinois University in December, 1993. While at Western, I minored in French and continued to pursue my musical interests as a violist. I had a very exciting final week of student teaching; I got engaged to Kurt, was hired to teach math at Franklin Middle School, and graduated. Needless to say, I was on top of the world!
I took classes each summer since I started teaching at Franklin Middle School, but I was not sure what I wanted to do in terms of pursuing a Masters Degree. During the summer of 1995, after my first year of teaching, I participated in a program called Project Lioncol'n. I was innindated with information about the different technology that was available in our district and was excited but a bit overwhelmed. This is also the summer in which I got married. In the summer of 1996, I enrolled in two technology intensive courses. In the first course, I learned different ways to integrate technology into the classroom, and in the second I learned how to use a fun program called HyperStudio. In the summer of 1997, I took two math courses taught by Dr. Larry Stonecipher (an EXCELLENT teacher, by the way). These courses helped me develop more activities for gifted students and also for students with different learning styles. All these classes have helped me tremendously to prepare for what I am doing now in the CTER program.
In addition to learning new math and technology skills, I'm still very involved in many musical endeavors. I play the viola in the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Milikin-Decatur Symphony. I also perform at weddings and receptions with the Pro Musica Ensemble and the Lincoln Land String Quartet (LLSQ). The LLSQ has recently recorded a "demo" CD which has helped promote our group.
I had the amazing opportunity during July of 1999 to spend three weeks in Verbier, Switzerland playing with the Curtis Symphony at the Verbier Music Festival. It was a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime event that I'll never forget. I played under the baton of James Levine, Sir Neville Marriner, and Hans Vonk. The music, the scenery, and the people were absolutely amazing!
Last Updated on August 26, 1999