Greetings from Texas my future shipmates! What an incredible adventure we are going to be a part of.  As a divorced mom with 2 daughters going back to school and becoming a teacher, I can say I am like a kid when it comes to the realization that I'm going to be a part of scientific research in the real world! I met a special guy doing community theatre that is a teacher and I was influenced by his passion for it. I've now been teaching science in Everman ISD, a small district just south of Ft. Worth, for six years.

I started out teaching 8^th grade science, then was asked to be a traveling science teacher for the 5^th graders in our four elementary schools. The prize being the first intermediate school would open the following year and I would teach the lab portion! I am now the science specialist on our campus in charge of a variety of great activities.

This year I formed the Rockhounds Club to further students' interest in geology. I received my BS from UTA in 2003 with 23 hours in geology and found out quickly there are many opportunities for science teachers that are willing to give some time, interest, and energy in return for what we already do: open doors for our students.

Last summer I was one of 30 teachers selected for the inaugural "G-Camp for Teachers" trip through Texas A&M. We spent 2 weeks traveling 1500 miles throughout TX, NM, and CO on a bus, studying and becoming one with every type of geology along the way, with everyone's favorite being "bushwhacking to the landslide". Words cannot express the amount of exertion, laughter, and teamwork required to make it there and back to the bus! It was field geology to the core (no pun intended.). The more I know about the Earth, the more I want to know, so when our G-Camp professors sent us the link for School of Rock, I knew it was something that I'd love to be a part of. I have spent a lot of time camping, hiking, doing nature photography, bicycling, rock-hunting; nearly anything outside.

I have a daughter graduating from college in May and another daughter still working on her degree. They are the reason I pushed through college in hard times. Now they have to listen to my stories from summertime science teacher explorations! Thanks to that special guy in my life for letting me be a "research scientist" on these trips! I am honored to have been selected to participate in this adventure.