Life-long learning is my personal goal as an educator and what I hope to instill in students throughout the year. 

I grew up in an impoverished town, where 60% of my own high school class dropped out before graduation. I saw the struggles they faced in trying to go to school and how the struggles became more difficult as they dropped out and tried to find decent jobs. This motivated me to go back and teach at my school, to help students feel confident in their abilities and to give them tools that will help them when they leave the world of academia. 

I am very passionate about teaching and about the potential of each student. I believe every student is capable of learning and succeeding in math. The biggest hurdle is helping students feel comfortable and confident, and when you can get to that point, students want to be challenged. Throughout the year, the most important thing I want students to gain is a desire to think critically and to be good problem solvers, and that is what math is all about. 

Every student can learn math, and half the fun is figuring out how to help math make sense to each individual. Students in my class will work individual, and in collaboration with others to understand the concepts being learned and apply what they have learned to real-life situations in which they will need to think critically, use their problem solving skills, and look back through the tools they have learned to come up with a solution. When students become comfortable in this process, I push them to dig deeper, solve more thought-provoking or complex problems and start a fire or perpetual learning that pushes them to want to keep learning. 

I am excited to be starting my journey here at Quest and look forward to learning alongside my students this year!