I earned my Bachelor’s of Music Education from Austin Peay State University in 2013 with certification to teach Kindergarten through 12th grade music.

Following graduation, I taught general music in TN public elementary schools for three and a half years. I led many after school choirs, theater groups, and instrumental ensembles as well as ensuring that all of my students had the opportunity to perform each year. My students also got to experience multiple professional music and theater performances each year due to my grant-writing and fundraising efforts.

As an undergraduate student, I fell in love with teaching home school students at Camp Granada, a summer music day-camp at Austin Peay. As a professional educator, I continued teaching at Austin Peay’s Camp Granada and began sessions at the school where I taught. I also taught classes through the university’s music education program for home schoolers.

I believe that music education should be fun, engaging, and interactive. I do not strive to create mini-Mozarts but rather hope to teach children to understand and enjoy music of many kinds in various ways. This may mean playing a hand-clapping game of the Native Americans, learning a traditional folk dance from Israel, adding sound effects and instruments to a story from Africa, or chanting and dramatizing traditional European nursery rhymes.

I currently reside in East Tennessee with my husband (a State Park Ranger), my loving dog, and my crazy cat and teach music at a K-12 public school in my county.