My background is in Wildlife Biology and Environmental Conservation. I have a degree in Natural Resource Conservation and a B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry at Syracuse University.
While still in school, I worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service as a Wildlife Technician in North Carolina where I trapped and banded Wood Ducks, Terns and Pelicans. I also conducted herpetological surveys, soil surveys and checked Osprey nest sites to determine diet. I also worked as a graduate assistant in Cape Cod, Massachusetts where I studied buck moth larva in order to gain a better understanding of mortality and ichneumonid parasitoids. It was at this point that I became extremely interested in insects and parasites (hence the scarab. tattoo).
Throughout college, I volunteered at Braddock Bay Raptor Research Center and Wild Wings Raptor Rehabilitation Center. Through these organizations, I cared for captive raptors that had been injured and were unable to be released into the wild. The species at these facilities included Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Harris Hawks, Barn Owls, a Turkey Vulture who gave me a black eye and a resident bobcatnamed Tara. I also facilitated educational programs for Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups.
After graduating college, I worked for the US Forest Service on the Great Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project. This was a large-scale, non-invasive research study with the aim of determining the population of Grizzlies in the Continental Divide area of Montana. In order to estimate population size, hair snag sites were set-up. A barbed wire perimeter was set-up and bear bait was placed in the center in order to draw bears in. Once the bear walked under the barbed wire, a sample of hair was left behind, which would later be collected and analyzed to determine species and gender.
In 2005 I moved to Colorado, where I began work with the Colorado Division of Wildlife as a Wildlife Technician. Specifically, I collected ungulate (deer, elk, moose) heads from hunters in order to test them for Chronic Wasting Disease(CWD). I then began work on a study of CWD in Boulder, Colorado. The aim of this study was to track CWD in live deer in order to learn more about the prion and the transmission and progression of the disease. Deer were tranquilized, a tissue sample taken for testing, blood work completed, and the animal was fitted with a radio collar for tracking purposes. Animals were tested annually for CWD and tracked until death. The published article summarizing this study is available in the classroom if you are interested in learning more.
Because we would have to retrieve radio collars from dead deer throughout this study, this project allowed me multiple chances to see mountian lions up close, which was amazing, and is why I will never be a trail runner! I also worked briefly at the CDOW Wildlife Research Facility. Here I cared for captive research animals including elk, deer, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and antelope. I also had the chance to hand feed one of their three resident mountain lions.
Through all of the above experiences, I had opportunities to facilitate community education programs and work with teenage interns. It was these experiences that triggered my interest in becoming a teacher. In 2007 I went back to school to earn my Teaching License in General Science from Colorado State University. I completed my student teaching at Durango High School. I was a founding teacher at Animas High School, starting as a Math & Physics teacher in 2009. I am very happy at Animas High School and love that I get to focus on my passion, Biology!
As you have probably guessed by now, I love animals. I recently spent a month in Kentucky, where I helped care for a variety of primates at The Primate Rescue Center. Animals are a huge part of my day to day life as I have three dogs, three cats, three chickens, a fish tank, one tortoise, and a hamster named Queen Elizabeth.
It is important to me as an educator to form positive relationships with my students. I love learning with and from my students. Every year that I teach, I learn more about the world I am a part of and about myself. I look forward to learning more about all of my students this year and helping them to achieve their potential and see the many connections that exist between science and their daily lives.