I remember it well. Elementary school was drawing to a close. My teacher slid the video into the VHS player. A grainy 1980s video showed a young Ben Affleck visiting ancient Maya ruins, but it was the subsequent interview with college student Dave Stuart that stayed with me. While accompanying his archaeologist parents on digs as a child, Dave was becoming a world expert on ancient Maya writing. That's what I want to do, I decided.

Roughly one decade later, I was standing in Dave Stuart's house along with dozens of archaeologists and graduate students. Now I was the college student, and Professor Stuart was hosting the Maya Meetings at UT Austin. While I may not have become the next leader in Maya epigraphy, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to pursue my interests through my college coursework, excavations, and archaeological conferences. 

A native of Rhode Island, I attended Brown University, where I concentrated in both Anthropology and Old World Art and Archaeology. It was a fantastic experience, allowing me to pursue my lifelong interests in the ancient Maya and Egyptians while building friendships with wonderful people.

After earning my bachelor's degree, I worked as a college advisor for two nonprofit organizations where I helped students apply for college, provided feedback on college essays, taught SAT prep classes, and led workshops for students and their families. I learned that I love to teach and design curriculum, but I loved working one-on-one with students even more.

In pursuit of a career in student advising, I matriculated at Rutgers University-New Brunswick to earn a master's of education in College Student Affairs. My graduate program included a mix of classes on teaching, counseling, and college administration.  I took elective courses in multicultural counseling and career counseling, which supported my work as an intern at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center and Rutgers Career Services, as well as my work as an academic coach for Student Support Services. I taught a transition course for transfer students and worked in the School of Arts and Sciences Transfer Center.

After earning my master's degree, I was asked to teach and coordinate a mentoring program that matched Rutgers students with local high school students. I developed and taught courses on mentoring for four semesters before taking a new opportunity to work as an admission reader at Princeton University. I read about 2,000 undergraduate applications over the course of three years.

When an opportunity to return to the SAS Transfer Center as an Assistant Dean arose, I jumped at the chance to work with students more directly and to teach again. I advised students, rewrote the transfer course curriculum, and taught several classes. When the pandemic sent students and staff home, I quickly learned about virtual course design and moved our courses and transfer orientations online. 

After more than three years at the SAS Transfer Center, I decided to follow my newfound love of virtual teaching and advising. I am now coaching high school students as they write their admission essays and resumes.

In my spare time, I teach courses on ancient art and archaeology, perform on stage, and play the mountain dulcimer.