1. What did you do before you came to CRHS

“Before I came to CRHS I was an accounting supervisor at ING, and I was responsible for $97 billion worth of assets and over $500 million of revenue.”

2. What are your children’s names? Ages? Personalities?

“Devon is 20. He’s working right now as both an electrician and a ski instructor. He has an associate degree in business from Middlesex, and he’s looking to continue for his bachelor’s degree at Central, but right now he’s working on getting his electrician’s license. Devon is very involved in things like skiing, his truck, and his car; he has a dirt bike, and he and his friends go riding. He’s also been working with one of his friends at the Durham fairgrounds on tractors this past six or eight months. He likes getting old tractors to run because his grandfather had a really old tractor, and Devon had been getting it up and running. So that’s what Devon’s goals are. And Chad, Chad will be 17 next month. He’s a junior at H-K. Chad will be captain of the soccer team next year. He also does swimming and track. He’s also an Alpine racer at Mount Snow. He’s thinking of majoring in engineering in college. He takes engineering now; at H-K they have this program called “Project Lead The Way,” and Chad’s been taking that while he’s been there.”

3. Why did you choose to become a math teacher?

“When I was in high school, I was really good at math, and back then everybody said, ‘You’re so good at math; you should become an accountant,’ so that is what I did. When I decided that I was done being an accountant, I had discussed with one of my friends about us becoming teachers. It seemed like there was a lot of things that we had to do in order for that to happen because I didn’t have a formal education degree. So I went through the ARC program that the state of Connecticut runs–the Alternate Route to Certification that they have for people that have worked in the business world for a number of years but decide to switch careers. It just seemed logical for math to be where I went because that was what I was always good at.

4. What’s your favorite part of teaching?

“My favorite part of teaching is my students. That’s what makes it special, having a good relationship with my students.”

5. How long have you been teaching?

“This is my fourth year at Coginchaug. I did student teaching when I was in the ARC program, but this is where I came full time.”

6. Did you do any sports/clubs in high school? If so, what?

“I did FBLA, the Future Business Leaders of America, and I think one year I did indoor tack, but I had a job all through high school. I worked at the library in town; I was like a librarian aid. I use to check out books and shelf the books, and I used to do story time for the little kids in the summertime.”

7. Where did you go to school?

“I went to Cromwell High School. I went to CCSU for my bachelor’s, and then I went to the University of New Haven for my masters.”

8. What do you do in your free time?

“My free time is spent doing math problems. (she laughs) No, but that’s my work; it takes a lot. In my free time, I [go] to all the various sporting events of my children–well, Chad because he’s the one in high school…which seems like it’s all the time. I read a lot, I like to go to the movies, and I spend time with my friends and family.”

9. What’s your most embarrassing memory?

“One time I tripped. This happened like four years ago. Don’t ask me why, but the main entrance to H-K is weird. It’s not here how we walk in the main door and the office is right there; at H-K when I was looking for it, when I had to go there for something for Chad, I couldn’t find it. It’s in between these two buildings, and you have to walk up stairs, and there are actually signs that say watch your step because it’s a step up, and I did not see the signs, and I went flying like flat out, and I had books in my hands and everything. Flat out in the middle of the area, everything went flying. That was pretty embarrassing.”

10. What five words would you use to describe yourself?

“That could be good or bad. I’m a mom. I’d say I’m honest; you know, if you ask me something, I’d tell you. I think I’m sassy. I’m trustworthy. And I’m a teacher. There ya go; we’ll go with the most obvious.”