In case you were wondering, all the photos used

on each page of this website is my own photography.

I became interested in photography while taking a class
at Napa Valley College. My Photography and Art
History professors were the only ones to keep me
enrolled in their classes that semester. I missed the
first 3 weeks of school because I was in a head on
collision with a drunk driver on my way home from
work in Napa. The school's policy for missing the
first weeks of school is that the professor can drop
you from the course if there are many students wait-
listed. About 4 surgeries later, I was put back
together with titanium plates, screws, and rods and
ready to return to school. My art classes became my
therapy for my post traumatic stress. My art gave
me something to focus on instead of the pain, fear,
and anxiety. If it wasn't obvious, I like to
photograph and paint landscapes, architecture, flowers,
and animals.

I met my fianc, Jonathan, at UC Davis. He was

a stranger who sat next to me everyday in the giant
lecture hall. The class was my first ever C,C++
Programming class. There were hundreds of students
in the class, so we were divided into sections among
the 5-6 different TA's. I didn't know until the end
of the year when I was stressing over finals that the
guy who sat next to me everyday was one of the
TA's. I almost failed that class, so I was going to
every TA's office hours that were available. Jonathan
was the nice TA who was soft spoken, but took the
time to explain the material and cared whether or not
I understood. I feel like the hour of help I
received from him in that one office hour meeting
helped me pass the final and the class. After grades
were posted, I found his Facebook and sent him a
message thanking him for all his help. Long story
short, we have been together for about 5.5 years, we
bought a house together here in town, and we have a
baby due in late November of this year.
I graduated from UC Davis in 2014 with a
bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. Deep
down, I knew that this was not what I wanted to do
for the rest of my life and I contemplated dropping
out or changing majors. My, then boyfriend at the
time, fianc encouraged me to finish my degree and
not drop out. After I graduated, I took about a
year off to figure out what it was that I really
wanted to do for the rest of my life.

One day, I came across a job listing for Vallejo

City Unified School District for a STEAM Specialist.
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering,
Arts, and Mathematics. I was intrigued that the
school district I grew up in was trying a program to
prepare the kids with 21st century skills. I thought
to myself, I'm a little jealous they didn't try this
when I was in school. I also thought, maybe I would
have been more confident to pursue a job as an
engineer had I been prepared in k-12 with the skills I
needed to be successful. Then suddenly it clicked
for me, I wanted to become a teacher. I applied
for the job listing thinking I could observe and
practice teaching to see if I would be any good at
it. After a year of working as a STEAM Specialist, I
was promoted to a STEAM Content Specialist. In this
current job I am tasked with the following duties:
Writing NGSS Units based 5E lesson plans for grades
K-6; Assisting teachers with implementing the new
NGSS Units in the classroom; Assisting/teaching the
CSTEM Programming and Robotics class for our 7th-
8th elective classes; and ordering necessary supplies
for the NGSS Units and CSTEM class. I also run a
Programming and Robotics club during lunch and after
school to prepare teams for competing at UC Davis'
CSTEM Day in May every year. Our district sends us
to PD's (professional development classes) at SCOE
(Solano County Office of Education) to help us be a
better asset to the teachers and students. I have
been in this current position as a STEAM Content
Specialist for about 3 years now. I feel like working
with STEAM for 4 years has prepared me to become a
teacher. So, I am currently pursuing that dream as a
result.