Author

    Playing outside has always been one of my favorite ways to spend time.  When I was growing up my sister and brothers and I spent many hours outdoors building camps, riding our bikes, exploring the neighborhood, and inventing backyard games.  We always looked forward to the few winter days of snow and hoped for a day off from school to ride our sleds down any hill we could find.
    Since I grew up in the Renton/Issaquah area of rainy, western Washington, we didn’t get many of these incredibly fun days.  When I headed over the mountains to attend college at Washington State University I looked forward to colder winters and more days I could play in the snow, although classes weren’t cancelled due to the wonderful white stuff.  Not long after college I headed north to Alaska with my husband, Whit, to teach school in Arctic Village, which is north of the Arctic Circle and has no roads to it.  Wow!  I had almost 6 months to play in the snow with my students during recess and on weekends.
    During this experience, we decided to make Alaska our home and moved onto the road system to Delta Junction, the end of the Alaska Highway.  I have lived in Delta since 1979.  My two sons, Jason and Brian, were born and raised in Alaska.  I have taught in many areas for the Delta/Greely School District.  I have been an elementary classroom teacher at nearly every grade level.  I have also taught for many years in special education.  I am currently teaching elementary physical education and have EVERY child in the school as one of my students!!!  I can now enjoy playing outside with my students during recess and instructing activities in the snow during physical education classes for most of the school year.
    I LOVE teaching!  I feel so lucky to have the honor of working with children and their families.  I have been fortunate to have traveled to Japan as a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar to bring a better understanding of another culture to my school and community.   I was also very flattered to have been selected as a 2004 DisneyHand Teacher.  I continue to learn as a student myself every chance I get. 
    It was during a year that I was teaching kindergarten and playing outside on a very cold, twenty below day during recess in November that I was inspired to begin the project of Recess at Twenty Below.  I have always admired National Geographic photographers and dreamed of becoming one.  I am enthralled and fascinated with images of exotic locations, other cultures and portraits of peoples around the globe.  The summer before teaching kindergarten, I had an opportunity to meet several National Geographic photographers at a photography workshop I attended.  I was amazed to learn that one of their dreams was to photograph Alaska.

Awards/Honors

 2000 Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar