I was born and raised in Idaho by a teacher and a firefighter; granddaughter to a farmer and a rancher; am married to a veteran; and have 3 wonderful teens! My mother was a teacher and coach and my father was a firefighter and a "jack of all trades" in his off time. We grew up playing at Palisades, helping on the potato farm or the ranch, and spending time with extended family. I was a successful
Speech and Debate competitor in high school and college, taking several state championships and attending nationals multiple times. In college, I spent a summer working with a University of Chicago program at an inner city youth camp, competed at an international tournament in Romania; and spent my last unmarried summer working a fish processing plant in Alaska. I married my best friend in 2003 and we bought our home in Idaho Falls. I started my MA program at ISU as a graduate fellow in the Communications Department. Upon graduating with my MA, I was hired first as an intern, then full time as a Communications and Public Affairs Liaison at the Idaho National Laboratory. When I learned I was pregnant with our second child, I decided it was time to do what I had always wanted to do-teach. I got an alternate route teaching certificate and started at Hillcrest High School in 2008. My husband joined the Idaho National Guard in 2010 and immediately deployed to Iraq. I became active in the Idaho Falls Family Readiness Group and volunteered as a coordinator for spouses of deployed members of the guard. Upon returning from Iraq, my husband joined the National Guard full time as a supply sergeant and our broken road to moving to Pocatello began. We moved our family to Blackfoot, then Pocatello. When my husband was moved to Burley full time, we knew we couldn't both be working in different cities from our children. I was hired at Pocatello High School in 2018. We bought the house next to my best friend's farm and chased the dream of raising our kids in the country. I have always been active in the community, volunteering with Intermountain Therapy Animals and Pet Partners to participate in therapeutic animal visits; managing political campaigns, working with youth in hopes of helping shape amazing citizens of our community. I LOVE Idaho and can't imagine wanting to be anywhere else. I want to help everyone to be more aware of what is happening in our government, both local and state, so that we can all be more active in our community.
