I grew up in Mapleton, Wisconsin, which is located a few miles north of Oconomowoc. I attended Oconomowoc schools (actually attending a one room school for my first grade year), went away to UW-Oshkosh for my undergraduate work, married in 1977 and settled in Oconomowoc with my husband, Richard. Together we have two daughters. Our oldest daughter, Erin, is a nurse practitioner and resides in Ixonia. Our youngest daughter, Audra, is married and also lives in Ixonia. She and her husband have two children. I am thrilled to be a nana and love spending time with my grandson and granddaughter. During my free time I enjoy gardening (both vegetable and flower), biking, kayaking, spending time with family and friends, as well as my grands!
I began my teaching career in 1977, after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. My first teaching position was at Nashotah School (the building next to the Picnic Basket in Nashotah), teaching K-8 special education. In 1985, my program was moved to Stone Bank School (along with all the special education students from Nashotah) and I taught at Stone Bank for two years. Because of an extremely large caseload of students from both Stone Bank and Nashotah, it was decided that the Nashotah students would be moved back to their local school, so that Nashotah could have it’s own special education program.
It was at this time that Nashotah and Bark River schools merged and became the Lake Country School District. K-3rd grade were housed at Bark River and 4th-8th at Nashotah School. After two years of dividing my time between the two schools, I then taught solely at Nashotah, working with grades 4-8. Eventually, the district built a brand new K-8 school on Vettelson Road. We moved into the new building, in January of 1994.
I completed my master’s degree, from National Louis University, in curriculum and instruction in 2001. Over the years I have taught a variety of grade levels, received various certifications and have attended numerous training and educational opportunites. Currently I work with 6th-8th grade special education students with varying disabilities.
I truly enjoy working with the adolescent students. They can frequently be a challenge, but I love their quirky personalities and fun sense of humor! This will be my 40th year of teaching. My philosophy is to make school the best and most comfortable place for my students to be. I hope to instill confidence in my students, as well as helping them to become advocates for themselves. My desire is that when they leave LCS, they not only have developed and strengthened the skills they need, but that they also have learned the compensating techniques that will help them throughout their lives. Most of all, I want my students to leave LCS knowing that they were loved and that they are expected to pursue some type of post graduate opportunities. I have enjoyed staying in contact with many of my former students over the years, and knowing that so many of them have gone on to live very happy and successful lives makes me very happy. I’ve learned a lot over the years, from these former students, which has helped me to be a better teacher. I’ve never stopped learning!