A Passion for Science and Education

You’re probably wondering just who in the world I am, right? Well, I am a born-and-raised Midwesterner from St. Louis, MO (Go Cards!), but I relocated to Kennewick, WA back in 2009. As long as I can remember, I have been excited and passionate about science and math, so much so that I double-majored in Math and Physics when I attended Drury University in Springfield, MO. That is where I began my professional career as an educator, working throughout the majority of my undergraduate studies as an educator for the Discovery Center of Springfield.

In college, I focused heavily on astronomy/astrophysics, and upon graduation was able to successfully combine my love of both education and space science as an Astronomy Expert at the James S. McDonnell Planetarium in St. Louis. In 2009, my now-husband Eliot and I moved across the country when I accepted a position as Outreach Educator at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in Hanford. A few years later, I began teaching science, math, and art to 1st and 2nd graders at Children’s Garden Montessori, before joining the Bechtel National Planetarium at Columbia Basin College as Outreach Specialist in 2013. I was then promoted to Director of the Planetarium & Observatory in 2019, a position I still hold and which brings me great joy!

In my 17+ years in education, I have had the opportunity to teach thousands of children of all ages and abilities. I have worked alongside dozens of area teachers to create and implement standards-based curriculum. I strongly believe these experiences will make me a great school board director.