Thank you very much for the warm welcome to the Belchertown school district.  It is my distinct pleasure to be a cog in the musical machine at Jabish Brook.

 

I was born in Scotland due to being in a military family (I tried to enlist, but my eyesight is poor and I had recently broken my collarbone, they passed on me) and to my great regret, was not in Scotland long enough to develop a Scottish accent.

 

I was a late musical bloomer. While I was a Sophomore in high school, bands such as Nirvana and Green Day appeared on MTV and ignited a spark that turned into a white hot fire of musical passion. Watching the drummers bash and glide around the drums was mesmerizing and I found a drum set for sale on the side of the road and that was that. I joined the high school marching band, concert band, jazz band, pit band, wind ensemble, etc., and couldn’t get enough. I participated in many UMass Amherst summer music camps with Thom Hannum and was determined to learn as much as I possibly could to make up for lost time.

 

I continued my education at UMass Lowell and completed my Masters Degree in Music and Music Education at Columbia University in New York City. I plan to pursue a doctorate in the near future once I have a consistent foothold in a school district for more than a year or two (music programs, am I right?).

 

Prior to becoming a teacher (my Master’s Degree was completed with a 20 year gap due to financial situations arising from the school) I landscaped/hardscaped in The Berkshires, have been an audio engineer for 25 years and started my own educational group travel company where I focused on web development/computer programming and marketing. The company did not survive through COVID and I reignited my teaching career in North Brookfield where (yet again) financial situations arising from the school forced me to search for another district and I quite literally jumped when I saw an opportunity to be a part of the Belchertown community for a year. I promise to give the students my all each and every day and to stoke their own flames of joy to achieve their desired goals. The community has been extremely supportive and experiencing the Belchertown Fair Parade and the fair itself was absolutely fantastic!