What is your favorite thing about fall?
My favorite thing about fall is the cooler air, warmer drinks, and all the autumnal colors that appear. I’m basically like a living Robert Frost poem.

What made you want to become a teacher? What do you enjoy about the job?
I loved teaching music to kids in college as part of my music performance degree, but I came to realize I have been working with kids of all ages since I was about fourteen as a counselor in various summer camps, so the idea of becoming a teacher might be something to look into pursuing. Twenty-three years later, I’m still going strong. I love creating music every day with students of all levels of abilities, and I love giving these students the opportunities my directors gave me in high school and college.

If you could live a day inside the world of a novel, television show, or movie, what fiction would you live for a day and why?
Living in the world of The Muppet Show might just be a fatal dose of nostalgia for me, but it would be worth it to go out among one of my favorite childhood memories.

If you could be anything besides a teacher, what career would you want to pursue and why?
In another life, I would have pursued communications (TV/radio) as a profession. I loved working radio in college, and the performance aspect of that job seems to be close to what I do now, anyway.

If someone could go back in time and open your high school locker, what would they find? My locker was nearly empty and pretty boring. I usually carried everything in my backpack, and I didn’t even get a full locker until late in high school (We had half-lockers for most of our middle and high school students). By that time, my car was my locker, so senior year, I don’t remember using my locker at all.

What was your first job? What was it like?
My first paying job was being a camp counselor; I was a sophomore in high school and worked with an older high school student (All camp groups had at least two people: one senior counselor, one junior).  Outdoors for four or more hours in brutal New Jersey summer heat and humidity, and I had my brother and his friends in my group five days a week. Memories were not too fond…

What is a trend from when you were in high school that you thought was cool at the time but now just seems goofy?
Crazy neon colored clothing, especially sneakers and athletic wear. The 90’s were not a kind decade in the world of fashion. Special shout-out to the L.A. Gear sneakers I had that used double laces. I still can’t explain what they were for, but I tied two laces on each shoe for nearly a year…

If you could have one song play every time you entered a room, what song would play, and why?
SO MANY SONGS TO CHOOSE!  I’ll go with “Final Countdown” or “Jump” from Van Halen–pretty much any hair metal song will do.

What is your favorite smell? Why?
Anything baking like bread or cookies ranks near the top regarding smells. For nostalgia (again), the inside of a video arcade brings me back to my childhood years. I can’t really describe it, but it’s permanently etched into my brain.

If you could go back and give advice to your high school self, what would you tell her?
“STOP WORRYING ABOUT EVERYTHING!  You are wasting so much energy on trivial things; look at how much you have accomplished instead!  You are worth so much more than you think!” Also, “BUY ALL THE APPLE STOCK YOU CAN GET!”