What school did you go to?

I went to Little House Preschool, and then I went to Crossroads Elementary. We were the Corgis because our principal literally had a corgi farm. My kindergarten picture is actually me holding a corgi. After that, I went to Frontier Middle School and then Liberty High School. 

What kind of student were you – quiet, curious, troublemaker, overachiever?

I would definitely say I was an overachiever. I was the kid taking all the AP classes and always trying to stay on top of everything. Even in elementary school, I remember helping teachers hand back papers or working with other students who needed help. I liked being busy and feeling accomplished, and school was always something I took really seriously. 

How was your childhood home life?

It was good. I have a sister who’s three years older than me, and we’ve always had a really good relationship. My family is mostly all around here in Missouri, so growing up, we were close to a lot of relatives. My grandparents lived nearby, and we spent a lot of time together as a family. 

What has changed from when you were a child, and what hasn’t?

A lot of things are actually pretty similar between my childhood and teenagers today. Some of the toys you guys talk about, I had those too. I got my phone around the same time as most kids today, around 12 years old. But technology has changed a lot, especially for little kids now. I didn’t have an iPad growing up, and we had one of those old TVs where you could set a time limit, and it would just turn off. I’m young enough that my experience is still pretty similar to students’, which is good because I can relate – but it’s also wild to see how much devices have shifted childhoods.

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

I honestly never looked into another career. Even in elementary school, on career days or dress-up days, I always wanted to be a teacher. I don’t have a specific reason why – it was just always there. Then in high school, I went to [a] camp for gifted students at Mizzou, where we took college-style classes without homework, just learning topics. I took sociology and a math class, and that math class was ‘cool math’ – it was fun – and that’s when it clicked for me. I was already leaning toward math because it was something I enjoyed and was good at, but that class showed me that math could be fun and interesting. That’s when I officially decided I wanted to teach math. 

Tell me a childhood story that always makes you smile.

This is one I tell all the time. One of the first summers my sister and I got to stay home alone, we were young, and we got hungry and wanted pizza rolls. The instructions only listed a conventional oven or toaster oven, but we wanted to use the microwave, so we decided the microwave would be the same. We put the pizza rolls in for ten minutes. One thing led to another before the smoke alarm went off, smoke filled the house and the fire truck actually came. We had a landline then, and when the smoke alarm went off, the fire department got called. When the phone rang in all the smoke ruckus, we were too scared to pick up the phone because it was a stranger calling. We were freaking out before the firefighters arrived, calling our mom, trying to grab wet rags to stop the smoke. Now it’s one of those memories I laugh about, and it definitely taught me microwaves are not ovens. 

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

Milkshakes. My mom worked nights for a while, and my dad worked days, and every Friday night – while my mom was at work – my dad, my sister and I would make milkshakes together. We even had a cute little name for those nights, calling them “Chocolate Shake Fridays.” Whenever I see a milkshake, I’m immediately back at that kitchen counter with them. 

What’s something students might be surprised to learn about you?

I make sourdough. I make bagels, sandwich loaves – at least one thing every week. I lived alone my last year of college and my first year teaching, and all my friends had left, so I needed something to do. One of my professors had a decades-old [sourdough] starter, which sounds kind of gross if you don’t know about it, but I borrowed it and started baking. It stuck, and now it’s just my thing – I try to make at least one baked item every week.