Welcome to a brand new school year!  This is my second year teaching for SVVCS.   I teach middle school language arts, Kansas history, and civics, and I also coordinate the work study program.

I live on a small farm outside Salina, Kansas, with my family -- That’s my husband, 3 children, 8 cats, 2 dogs, 2 pet starlings, and a whole bunch of other animals.  Our outside animals are miniature donkeys, miniature horses, goats, chickens and guineas. 

I was born in Washington, D.C., and lived in nearby Maryland suburbs until 2006 when we moved to wonderful Central Kansas.  My jobs before I became a teacher have included legal secretary, office manager, bookkeeper, self-employed real estate agent, real estate advice columnist for a local paper, and associate producer of international documentaries. 

To make the documentaries, I traveled to many different countries -- India, Lebanon, England, Holland, France -- and I have also visited Russia, Germany,  Belgium, Honduras, Mexico, and Denmark. 

Two of my children, Nina and Henry, are seniors at SVHS, graduating in 2009!  Nina is involved with theatre and Henry plays keyboards, guitar, and drums.  My daughter Suzanna graduated from Ell-Saline in 2008 and is attending Salina Area Technical College in computer-aided drafting.  My daughter Galina is a cosmetologist in Salina and her daughter (my  granddaughter!), Denise, just turned 4 years old.  My husband, Gene,  teaches math at Salina Central High School.