STEM Boot Camp

I have followed a very nontraditional teaching path. I started out with a degree and career in chemical engineering, and I have slowly been making my way into the teaching world. I have experience developing curriculum for home-schooled students in math and science, and I spent the past year creating and teaching STEM programs at a K-9 special needs school. I have been tutoring for about 5 years in math, science, chemical engineering and ACT/SAT/GRE prep. I love developing curriculum and with my TPT store, I'm hoping to spark students' interest in math, science and engineering by creating outside-the-box and FUN hands-on activities!

As a former engineering student and engineer, I am a huge fan of the "facilitator" teaching style in which the teacher acts as a guide to the student's success, without telling the student exactly what to do or how to do it. I value the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills so that a student gains confidence and feels prepared to be "thrown" into any unfamiliar situation. Of course, in math and science, it is also important to incorporate lecture-based learning to ensure that students have built the necessary foundation for higher-level learning. However, once the technical knowledge is there, I believe that application problems, labs and other hands-on activities are crucial to building real-world skills.

I am a member of the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, a certified Engineer In Training (EIT), and a member of the Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society.

I graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Since then, I have obtained a certificate from Rice University (via Coursera) in "The Fundamentals of Computing in Python." I am continuing to take programming courses in Python, SQL, and HTML/CSS/JavaScript in order to incorporate more of the technology portion of STEM into my curriculum.

In my free time, I love to run, hike, kayak, and exercise in pretty much any way possible! My love for health and fitness was part of the inspiration for my TPT store. My labs and activities get students UP and moving while they learn a variety of complex STEM concepts. The activities and practice problems can be intellectually intense and fast-paced, hence the "Boot Camp" reference in my store name!