I was born in Japan on a U.S. Naval base and after my parents returned to the states 18 months later, lived and grew up in Ohio. My parents still live in Ohio along with my sister and her family. My dad works for a farm cooperative that processes grain and feed while my mom is a pre-school teacher.
In high school I was involved in band (trombone) and choir and quickly developed an appreciation for jazz. Right after graduation I spent the summer with a music ministry group called Continental Singers & Brass and toured much of the U.S. and part of Canada. I received my college degree four years later from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a B.S. in Organizational Behavior. Between my junior and senior year at Miami I again toured with the Continentals playing the trombone. This time I got to spend some time in South America (Brazil and Colombia). This is also where I met my wife, Cathy. She is from Mesquite so I decided to move to Texas. I quickly found a job in the Dallas area after graduation before we married and we've lived here ever since.
I began working at West Mesquite in 2007 in the science department. Right now I'm working on my Master's Degree in Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Texas @ Arlington.
Speaking of technology, this definitely intersects with what we do in the classroom. You and I are part of a rapidly changing world that is more and more connected. This means information, some very useful and some not so useful, is nearly always at our fingertips. Part of being a learner is knowing how to search for answers and figure out if what we've found is valid and useful. Science is all about inquiry (asking questions) and we have so many places to go for answers. I hope you'll enjoy this short journey we take together as we learn more about the physical world around us ("physics" from Greek: physis "nature") and discover what it means to be a life-long learner.
