I went to community college for the first 2 years and transferred to Ashland University for their partnership program. I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a reading endorsement and 4/5 social studies endorsement.

I had multiple, wonderful student teaching experiences in the states duringmy time in undergrad. I also had the valuable experience of teaching alongside a teacher in a year 4/5 classroom outside of Auckland, New Zealand. It was inspiring to see a teacher put so much love into her passion and helping her students enjoy learning. It was also interesting to see how schools operate in different countries.

I nannied for two young boys between undergrad and grad school when I was figuring out how to support kiddos in a setting outside of schools. Working with this family allowed me to practice teaching skills to little ones while reminding myself it’s okay to be silly when working with little kiddos.

I worked one-on-one with kids on the spectrum, verbal and non-verbal, ages 2-7. We worked on daily living skills such as asking for things they wanted and putting shoes on to overcoming fears like walking into a pool.

I worked at a YMCA camp in Colorado for a summer and this was what helped to pinpoint my future goals. The camp director I worked with instilled this passion for supporting equitable opportunities for disadvantaged youth. In addition, he stuck to his morals with how he ran the camp.

I started grad school at The Ohio State University shortly after realizing what I could do with a social work degree. I decided to do the school social work track but took classes allowing me to expand on my interests.

I ran groups for youth at a residential facility for those struggling with behavioral and mental health (many with severe childhood trauma). Upon starting, I was trained in trauma-informed care as well as experiential group work. I ran groups involving climbing activities, communication games, outdoor initiative, and processing art activities. This allowed me to create groups (with learned activities), lead the groups, and engage clients in pieces of psychoeducation. Working here inspired me to advocate for groups because of my belief in how much can be learned from interacting with others.

I worked at multiple private practices over these years and found that I struggle with a private practice setting, I enjoy a more chaotic/fly by the seat of your pants environment. Working in this setting did allow me to learn how to bring in games and artwork activities working with different amounts of folks and how to adjust accordingly. I also was able to work primarily with neurodivergent folks as well as those who are part of the LGBTQIA+ allies.