As Tucker County’s teacher of gifted for 20 years, I have been creating activities, units, and adventures for my students and colleagues for many years.  In September, I attended two workshops at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville that were sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission.

I grew up in western Pennsylvania and graduated from Indiana University of PA in 1974 with a BS in elementary education.  I ventured to West Virginia for my first teaching job and received my masters in elementary education from WVU in 1980.  I received WV gifted certification from WVU in 1989.

For six years, I taught grades one, four, five, and six.  After several years as Mom, I was director and teacher of the Parsons Nursery School for four years.  From that position, I began teaching gifted students.

Since 1993, I have taken space classes and attended conferences and seminars every summer across the US.  In 2005, I completed the NASA Explorer School application as lead teacher and was delighted when we were selected as the second school in West Virginia to be a NASA Explorer School.

My husband of 31 years, Ed, is retired from construction work.  My daughter, Christine, is a preschool teacher here in Tucker County.  My son, Eddie, is an industrial engineer for NAVAIR at Pax River in Lexington Park, MD.  I have two cats – Rex is 17 years old and Nutmeg is 1 year old and ornery as she can be.