My Life
Music has been part of my life since before I was born. My parents met while in college--Dad was pursuing a piano pedagogue major, Mom was an English major with a piano minor. Some of my earliest memories are of concerts and recitals, piano lessons and listening to the greats-Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Bach, and Beethoven.
I began working with choirs as an accompanist in junior high, and as a section leader and choreographer in high school and college. I also played the flute, keyboard, trumpet, piano, and mallet percussion in school bands and orchestras (junior/senior high, and college). In addition to these pursuits, I performed in every play and musical I could, and enjoyed many roles including "Anna" (The King and I), "Ado Annie" (Oklahoma), and "Cinderella" (Into the Woods). After completing my degree in music education at Arizona State University, I taught in the Scottsdale and Mesa school districts until I was fortunate enough to stay home with my kids.
In 2001, my husband, Lyman, was hired as one of the original four teachers to start a charter school--Rocklin Academy. We left Phoenix and our extended family and moved to California for the educational opportunities for our children and professional opportunities for ourselves. I couldn't stay out of the classroom, and began volunteering as a music docent. We eventually were able to write and win a grant that allowed us to create a curriculum, train other docents, and support a music docent program at Rocklin Academy.
I was hired to start the music department at Western Sierra in 2009-2010, teaching instrumental, vocal and guitar classes. In addition to those classroom duties, I got the theater program off the ground, beginning with self-created musical revues and progressing to licensed shows. Since then, I've been in four different classrooms, two school sites, and seen the VAPA Department grow from 6 classes to 24+ unique levels and offerings within both visual and performing arts. I've been excited by the growth of the program and the skill level of our students, and being a part of that is very rewarding. In the last four years, Western Sierra has added instrumental, digital photography/yearbook, and theatre arts teachers--it's exciting to see the opportunities for students expand and grow!
My husband is also on staff at WSCA as a middle school teacher (7th and 8th Grade History), and we have three children; Reed (Utah State University), Lily (Snow College) and Joe (Trade School). We also love spending time with our furry family members: our dogs, Gracie and Lucy. They are both crazy mutts that shower us with dog kisses.
