I am originally from New York, I moved to Florida 10 years ago looking as many others to escape the harsh winters.  While here I met a wonderful man and got married we have two beautiful children, a boy, 8 and a girl, 3.  I am the youngest girl of large combined family, as of today there are 11 children (I'm the baby) 26 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren.  We are spread around the country Texas, Florida, New York, Montana, and Arizona.

The head of our family is my 85 year old father, he is the last of a dying breed as they say.  WWII veteran, retired NYPD, golfer extradinaire (or so he would say).  Best of all he's a great Dad and an even better Grandpa.  

Before returning to college to complete my degree, I worked in the private sector for over 23 years.  Working in varied industries; air conditioning, retail women's clothing, and mechanical contracting.  I've held positions in administrative support, operations management and executive management.  At each position I was truly lucky to work for someone who was willing to teach me anything I wanted to learn.  This made it possible for me to move up the ladder without having a formal degree.  This support and exposed influenced me when it came time to manage a staff of my own, I took on the role of teacher.    

Having my children put me in a place where I began to evaluate my career aspirations.  During this process I came to realize that the part of my jobs that I enjoyed the most were working with young people and helping them to discover and work toward their potential.  So the idea of teaching as a profession felt like a natural progression.  I believe my mind was made up when my son became old enough to go Kindergarten.  His enthusiasm and excitment for each new day made me want that feeling too.  I believe that teaching can be a way for me to get that feeling and make a positive impact on someone else at the same time.