Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself and what hobbies/sports you do.
A: I grew up in Ann Arbor and have been an avid boardgamer since my early teen years. I played volleyball in college and have been coaching at various levels since graduating from Hope College in 93.

Q: What do you teach and why?
A: I teach mathematics because I love the flexibility of math while it maintains correct solutions,there are many different paths to discover them.

Q: What/who inspired you to become a teacher?
A: My first undergraduate degree was in business administration/finance. I found a coaching job right out of college that I took to have some income before finding a full time “career” style position. I found that I spent most of my time hating the job I had in business and thinking about practice plans for my team and working with the kids. At one point I was coaching a match and one of the players executed a diving dig (a skill we had worked on all week) perfectly. She was so excited she jumped up and turned to me, in the middle of the play, jumped up and down and cheered “I did it!” Meanwhile the other team had hit the ball back to where she should have been playing defense instead of celebrating and we lost the rally. We did not lose her joy in her accomplishment though and it was at that moment, seeing and sharing in her joy of accomplishment that I knew I wanted to make a career out of teaching and coaching. There is no better feeling than that moment when a student masters a new concept and seeing the excitement and joy in their eyes from achieving something they previously thought out of reach.

Q: What do you do in your free time?
A: I don’t have freetime. lol. When I do have some I hang out with my daughter and wife or play board games with some friends.

Q: What is one motto you will always live by?
A: Perfection is unattainable but that doesn’t mean we ever stop trying to obtain it.

Q: What is your favorite teaching moment?
A: Probably the one I said before as the reason I decided to become a teacher.

Q: What surprised you about this year?
A: Far too many things to list. 🙂 Surprises are usually fun! Usually.