What school did you go to?

I went to a small public school called Sleepy Eye Elementary School.

How was your childhood homelife?

I had three other siblings, [and] I was the oldest of four. At home, it was bustling. We were all very similar in age, all about a year apart. So we were always either playing or yelling at each other. There was never a dull moment because we always hung out together.

What has changed, and what hasn’t?

One of the biggest things I can think of is just that we didn’t have devices around. With things being a little more analog, non-digital, we were forced to spend more time together or outside. Again, I just remember being around my siblings a lot more, whereas now, children can decompress by watching a show.

When did you know you wanted to be a teacher and teach this subject?

In middle school, I thought about it, but didn’t quite have a big decision made about it. When I was in seventh grade, we had an art class for the first time, where we would go into a section of our school building to see our art teacher, Miss Thorson. She was new to us in seventh grade, and she was a great teacher. She was very enthusiastic and engaging. She was also the director of theater backstage work. She was asking some students to help out

“Annie”, so it needed a Central Park backdrop for the day and night. They also needed a backdrop for the home that Annie was going to go live in. It was really exciting because she left it open to us. I showed the most interest in wanting to paint the stuff that was big because nobody else wanted to. My teacher was very encouraging to me and that was very empowering. I don’t think I wanted to be a teacher then, but that was the seed that was planted.

Tell me a childhood story that always makes you smile. 

My little sister was still learning how to read and spell and know her letters. The funniest thing that we still bring up in my family today is when she was learning and pointing at different things in the house, and one of the things was the jar of peanut butter and she was like, “S-K-I-P-P-Y, peanut butter.” She thought those letters spelled out peanut butter. It was hilarious.

What things make you nostalgic when you see/hear/smell/feel them?

Being in an art room. The art room was always somewhere I liked to be, even before my seventh grade experience. It’s the smell of paper and washable paint that makes me very energetic. And I played softball when I was really young, so there’s also that smell of being outside on the softball diamond base, a mix of the dirt and the grass and a sunny day. If it’s really sunny, like a spring or summer day, I think of being in softball practice because of the lighting too.