This is my tenth year of teaching at Lakeshore Middle School in Mooresville, NC, and the overall experience has been great. There is not a day that goes by where I don't remind myself how lucky I am to be teaching at such a wonderful school.
 
As a native Ohioan, I began my professional career in 2000 writing for The Morning Journal, a newspaper based in Lorain, Ohio, with a circulation of over 60,000. But after discovering that being a journalist was not for me, I started substitute teaching and soon after made the decision to obtain my teaching certificate.
 
In 2005, I moved to North Carolina and began teaching at Lakeshore that same year. Over the past nine years, I have taught combinations of sixth and seventh grade science and language arts, including several inclusion and advanced courses. During the 2007-08 school year, I started our school newspaper, The Wave, which was an enjoyable venture that allowed me to further instruct children on the challenging craft of writing. In March 2014, I led The Quill, a student writing competition, to the state finals in Winston-Salem where we placed fifth out of the top 10 teams.
 
Finally, I am proud to say that I recently obtained my master's degree in middle school education from Gardner-Webb University. I am incredibly grateful to have such an honor bestowed upon me.