FOR SCHOOL COMMITTEE
GET TO KNOW ME
My Story
My husband Matt and I moved here with our daughter Zoe (13) and son Evan (9) in 2015, when Evan was just one month old. We were drawn to Reading for its convenient location, welcoming atmosphere, and, most importantly, reputation for having a strong school system. Our decision to purchase a home here remains one of the best we've made as a family, and I'm running for School Committee to help ensure that Reading schools continue to nurture students who are well-rounded, independent thinkers with abundant opportunities for intellectual and personal growth.
My Personal and Professional Experience
INVOLVEMENT IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
I was fortunate to attend strong public schools growing up, and graduated with honors in a high school class of over 600. I then attended Tufts University, where I earned a BA with honors in Anthropology, and continued on to earn a PhD in Biological Anthropology from Boston University. I have since worked as an award-winning Fellow and Lecturer at Harvard University, Tufts, and BU, teaching undergraduate students in both large lecture and small seminar courses. These experiences have given me significant insight into the variables that affect student motivation and performance, and I will work to ensure that the RPS learning environment encourages and enables students to build the skills they need to succeed in college and beyond.
COLLABORATION
My work in anthropological research and with academic committees has provided me with extensive experience in both leadership and teamwork. In 2021 I also served on the selection committee to choose a new principal at Joshua Eaton Elementary. The Reading School Committee has a track record of successfully working together to achieve important goals (tuition-free full-day kindergarten, for example), and I look forward to working with other committee members to address both the administrative needs of RPS and the concerns of students, teachers, and parents.
A PASSION FOR CONNECTING CREATIVITY AND CRITICAL THINKING
I'm a strong believer in the notion that the goal of education is not to teach students what to think, but how to think. As a member of School Committee I will advocate for curricula and policies that allow learners in RPS to build intellectual bridges across the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences, and to connect with topics in novel and meaningful ways.
My Outreach
During more than 10 years of teaching I've experimented with ways to increase student engagement and learning and have independently pursued opportunities to employ non-traditional educational platforms. In 2019 I gave a TED talk about evolutionary medicine that has since been viewed by over 2 million people.
Since 2018 I've volunteered as part of the organizing and narration team of March Mammal Madness, a collaborative education project run by scientists that distributes materials and lesson plans to educators worldwide. It now reaches over 600,000 students yearly.