Are you from Charleston?  

“No, I grew up in New York on Long Island, and I just moved here this past summer for this job, but ever since I’ve loved it here at Wando and in Charleston with the beach.”

How did you get to Wando? 

“My undergrad degree was environmental science and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with that, but in the end it helped me go into earth science because of my degree in earth science. This is my first full year teaching and it’s been here at Wando, but before I was a student teacher. I’m certified for middle school too, but I liked high school and I feel like the kids are a little more mature.” 

Why did you become a teacher?  

“I never really wanted to be a teacher, that’s why I feel like a hypocrite winning this, and I felt like a lot of teachers just always knew they wanted to teach. I kind of just didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, and then I got offered a scholarship to grad school to become a teacher so I did it, but now I really like teaching so I’m glad it worked out the way it did.” 

What’s your favorite part about teaching? 

“The kids and just being able to help them. I thought I wanted to do it because I thought I wanted to teach, just because I liked the earth a lot, and since I studied environmental science, but I’m learning that I like the kids a lot more than I like the earth. I like just helping them, and being a safe space for them and somewhere they can talk and relieve stress.”

What impact do you hope to make on students? 

“Mostly just being a teacher they felt comfortable with, and being somewhere they felt they could be themselves and still learn without being judged. I feel like a lot of kids get nervous in the classroom and nervous of judgment, so I make an effort to make the classroom a community. I want kids to remember me as the teacher who had a fun classroom that was a safe space too, and if they do then I’ll be happy.”