Q: How long have you been teaching?

A: Actually, I finished up my student teaching last year, which I did through UMass Lowell. After that, I was a long-term sub at Concord- Carlisle high school for a few months. This is actually my first full year teaching and it’s exciting.

Q: What made you decide to become a teacher?

A: To be honest, it wasn’t necessarily in my original plan. I always liked writing, especially journalism. A long time ago, I liked astronomy, but I knew I wasn’t going to pursue that, so I thought about scientific journalism, but when I got into college, and in high school too actually, I started tutoring kids, and that’s when I realized I like to see that click in someone’s eye when they finally get something. And so very early on, I decided to go down the track of education.

Q: What did you aspire to be as a child?

A: I played music a lot, and I always wanted to be a musician too. When I was about twelve or thirteen I picked up a bass guitar and that was actually my biggest passion for a while. I was in a lot of bands in high school and I thought I’d always be that rock star, but I took a different path.

Q: What do you like best about teaching?

A: Definitely that click in someone’s eyes when they get something that they didn’t understand before. Those few moments that happen are my favorites.

Q: What do you like least about teaching?

A: There’s not a whole lot that I don’t like about it. The planning takes a long time from day to day, and sometimes that can be a little strenuous. It’s not necessarily bad, it’s actually exciting when you come up with a new lesson plan you love. But a lot of times, a new plan can fail, which is frustrating.

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

A: I play ultimate frisbee, and I do a lot of white-water rafting up in Maine. That’s pretty much my biggest passion right now, outside of school.

Q: What got you interested in physics?

A: Astronomy led me down that path. I got into astronomy because my house up in Maine is in a town that has a residency of approximately 32 people. You can just look up and see the whole Milky Way. That’s when I realized this was what I wanted to do.

Q: What do you like most about WA so far?

A: Definitely the whole atmosphere. Positivity emanates from everyone in every corner. There are some other schools where you notice the stress and not as much positivity, but at WA, I feel like everyone’s happy to be here. I’m very excited to be here.