It is an honor for me to have served as the Principal of Hilltop Learning Center since we opened in 2014, and the Coordinator of the Early Childhood Programs in Blue Valley since 2009. I am proud of our program and privileged to work alongside a truly exceptional staff. Every adult in our program understands the importance of their role in the lives of our children and families. They are serious about learning, and seriously fun! In our classrooms across the district, we focus on the whole child, using developmentally appropriate activities to facilitate learning. We follow the Kansas Early Learning Standards as well as a system of Program-Wide Positive Behavior Supports. For children who need intervention, this is embedded into naturally occurring routines whenever possible.

Personally, I have worked in education for over 30 years in a variety of roles related to early childhood, special education and professional development. I am an Iowa native, where I completed my undergraduate work in early childhood and early childhood special education at the University of Northern Iowa. My graduate work was at Iowa State University and Pittsburg State University. 

I enjoy keeping up with my two college students, one at Eastern Michigan and the other at my alma mater, Northern Iowa.  At home, I enjoy spending time with my husband and our two dogs. I love cooking and baking and then jogging and yoga to work off those calories.  While I’m not particularly skilled, I do try my hand at creating such as knitting, crocheting, and cutting machine crafts.