Hi there! I am a Midwest transplant by way of Oakland, Ca who loves to connect with people from all walks of life through service and education. Many know me to be a school bus or truck driver which is how I've made a living for the past ten years. However, to got to know the real me, you have to take a look at what I've done outside of employment, majority of which has been unpaid. While looking for activities for my sons to participate in locally, I discovered a non-profit learning center in the heart of the inner-city. The next day I drove 30 minutes to find them and signed up immediately to volunteer. At first I thought I'd just be helping students read a few days a week but seeing a need, I ultimately ended up facilitating a full classroom of math students, developing reading curriculum and creating a summer reading competition to aide in summer connection and outreach for the center. My driving desire being to improve educational outcomes for not only my children but others like them, I was referred by the learning center director to several think-tank events with Kauffman Foundation and Great Schools that ultimately resulted in the creation of multiple off-shoot non-profits dedicated to improving educational access and outcomes for various sectors within the Kansas City community. The Parent Power Lab, an organization that I've participated in since their inaugural cohort in 2019, approaches educational improvement from the standpoint of teaching and guiding parents into greater understanding of how to become more effective advocators for their own children individually and on a community level through unified activism and organization. Before moving here to KC, I spent many years tutoring family, friends, classmates, etc. in everything from basic phonics to Statistics and Calculus. As a young girl I was routinely called upon to teach others new skills like how to operate a sewing machine to make an outfit from start to finish, or bake homemade dinner rolls. Through these and many other experiences, I've come to recognize myself as a natural educator, though I probably wouldn't have said teacher if you asked me what I wanted to be when I was growing up. From training and coaching others I've discovered and worked to develop a talent for breaking down information to make it more easily attainable, as well as a gift for being able to reach young minds that others deemed unable to learn. My goal in obtaining a Bachelor's degree at this time is to improve my communication ability in order to facilitate and expand connection with more and more people. Upon graduation, I intend to obtain teacher certification here in Kansas City to hopefully reach more young people, but also gain greater perspective on the differences between education within a structured school system compared to one on one and small group learning. I also intend to continue volunteer and community work with Parent Power Lab, KC Library's Digital Media Lab, and other groups as well.