Who am I?
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A History
I grew up on a farm in north central Iowa. The oldest of 4 kids. I attended Humboldt Community School district and graduated HS in 1997. I attended Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, IA before transferring to the University of Northern Iowa for my Bachelors of Arts in Social and Behavioral Sciences. I started traveling the world during my years at UNI, as a Camp Adventure councilor I had the opportunity to travel to China for two summers. The Summer after my first trip to China I started the next summer with a backpacking trip to Europe with my sister. Student teaching in Germany gave me both opportunities to travel more about Europe, and also a chance to love teaching. My first teaching job was in Haiti, teaching at a college prep school near the capital of Port au Prince. Living in Haiti was an adventure! Sometimes we wouldn't have electricity for days at a time, so we had a generator and car batteries to keep things cold in the refrigerator and run the water pump for showers. At the same time, we had a swimming pool right off of our dinning room. My next teaching job took me to the Middle East, to Kuwait where I first taught at an all Girls School in a suburb of Kuwait City. Kuwait was a different kind of adventure for me. Going from small town (around 100) people in Iowa, to a city of around 2.5 million was definitely an interesting change! Also, teaching at a medium/small sized international school, where I was the only 6th grade social studies teacher, but that was pretty much all I taught was pretty awesome. Living on the 8th floor, with a view of the Persian (Arabian) Gulf from my living room windows was pretty swanky! The last three years in Kuwait I taught at a small Christian Academy, attached to the church I attended there. A true international school, I taught students from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine/Jordan, India, Pakistan, America, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Philippines, China, and Indonesia. My co-workers were also from a variety of lands as well. May of 2014 I moved back to Iowa, and landed at the Coon Rapids-Bayard School District were I now teach U.S. Government/Economics, Geography and am with the At Risk students in the morning. I would say life seems less adventurous, but perhaps richer as I become a member of community in ways an expat can't. I LOVED seeing fall again! I'm not so so so excited about winter... but I am happy to be so much closer to family! |