I was born and raised in Washington State.  I graduated from Central Washington University with a major in French and a minor in Spanish.  I moved to Guam in 1983 where I taught English and Reading at Untalan Middle School in Barragada, Guam and served as Language Arts Department Chair and the Reading is Fundamental Coordinator.  As a Board member for the International Reading Association of Guam, I presented workshops on literacy for language teachers.   I have a Master’s degree in Literacy from Lesley University.

I returned to Seattle in 1990 and began teaching French and Spanish at Alderwood Middle School in the Edmonds School district.  At Alderwood Middle School I serve as World Language Department Chair.  I have been teaching middle school for over 35 years.

I have been a board member of  the Washington Association for Language Teachers (WAFLT) for many years, and am the current past president.  I was a WILL participant, Western Initiative for Language Leadership, from 2007-2009.  A frequent presenter at state and regional conferences, I am a firm believer in the importance of contributing to the profession.  My presentation “Comprehensible, Communicative, and Collaborative” was chosen as “Best of the Pacific Northwest” by PNCFL, the Pacific Northwest Council For Languages, and I presented it at ACTFL in Philadelphia in 2012.  I presented “Autonomous Acquisition Activities” at the ACTFL conference in Orlando in 2013.   I have presented workshops for the world language teachers of the Edmonds, Everett, Spokane, and Mukilteo School Districts.  I have presented to the STARTALK teachers on TPEP at the University of Washington in July of each year from 2013-2019.

I was the keynote speaker for the Idaho Association of Teachers of Language and Culture annual conference in Oct. 2013.  I was the keynote speaker for the Washington Association of Teachers of Japanese annual conference in Feb 2015.  I was the keynote speaker for the Montana world language teachers in Oct. 2015.

I received the Inspirational Leadership Award from WAFLT in 2013.  I received the Creative Innovator award from WAFLT in 2014.

I received the World Language Teacher of the Year Award from WAFLT in 2017.  I received the Pacific Northwest Council for Languages Regional World Language Teacher of the Year award for 2019.  I was honored to be an ACTFL National TOY Finalist for 2020.