A little about me

If we're going to be spending the next school year together, it might be nice to get to know each other. So, here's a little about me.

I grew up in Deltona, FL (a couple hours north of here on I-4). After high school, I joined the Navy and worked as an avionic technician on H-60 helicopters. Then, I came back to Florida for a couple years before moving to New Orleans to finish college. While in Louisiana, I started my teaching career, teaching inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola).

I moved back to Florida to go into graduate school and earned my master's and doctor's degrees at the University of Central Florida. I did research on cognitive development, which is a fancy way of saying I studied how people learn to think.

Before becoming a teacher, I was a college professor, researcher and administrator. I started K-12 teaching at Ft Meade Middle School, and then taught at Haines City IB for a couple years. Finally, I came to Dundee Ridge, and this is my fifth year here. I still love doing research, and even spent three of my summers doing environmental research for the State of Florida. So, I look forward to teaching students how to do scientific research.

I have been married for 15 years and I have three kids, ages 6, 3 and 10 months.

I'm a deacon at Kathleen Baptist Church in Lakeland. This summer I went to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip. In the past, I've been to Nicaragua three times and I've been to Romania.

I love motorcycles and I ride my Harley to work every day.

I'm also a fan of the Lakeland Flying Tigers minor league baseball team, and I'm sad the season is ending. My family and I went to a lot of games over the summer.

I'm sure we'll get to know each other much more during the 2013-2014 school year.

This is my family at the beach over the summer.