I have been teaching for the Alaska Gateway School District since the fall of 2012. For the first two years, I was teaching the Kindergarten through 2nd grade groups in Tetlin. Starting the school year in 2014, I will be teaching the same ages at another village school in Northway. I have a genuine passion to teach children of any age, and I honestly do, "whatever it takes" to see children succeed. My background consists of four years living in Botswana, Africa, with my husband where I taught mostly English as second language learners in grades Kindergarten through fourth. Previously, we were long time Alaska residents. Most of our years in Alaska were spent living in the interior bush community of Galena, where I taught Title 1 reading and Kindergarten after my children left for college. For a number of years before obtaining my teacher certificate, I was part of the classified support staff in addition to serving on the local school board. My husband and I also ran a small air taxi service from our home. For over 30 years, we were very happy living in a rural community among the Athabascan people of the region. It has been great to be back in Alaska!