A Little About My Life

     I am a United States Marine. I am a mother to two beautiful children and the wife of a Marine. We enjoy hiking and Mt. Rainier is by far my favorite location. We bike or walk on local trails such as the Piranha Pit at MCAS Cherry Point and The Bicycle Post trails in Greenville, North Carolina. I am an active participant in Crossfit and can regularly be found at the gym with my children and spouse.
     While I am in school to finish an English Education degree, my passion lies in health and fitness. I didn't know that, however, when I started my journey into adulthood. When I graduated in 1999 from Eastlake High School, I knew I wanted to teach. All through school (middle school through college) I volunteered reading in my siblings classrooms, helped with after school elementary programs, and was a hurdle coach for two years at a high school. Teaching was a must. What form that took, I didn't know. I went to college following high school and struggled with that very thing, finding my niche. I took English, as this was my major (I really enjoy the creative aspect) but wasn't sure about education or coaching. I changed my degree multiple times before deciding it was time to take a beat on school and join the Marines. I met my husband in the service and served my time. We had two children when I got out and I worked towards an associates degree and figuring out what I wanted to do.

     It wasn't until I found Crossfit in 2011 that I realized where my passion lay. While I am attending ECU for English Education, I fully intend to get endorsements in nutrition and physical education once I graduate and become a licensed teacher. I want to teach young adults getting ready to enter into society what healthy looks like (because it's not what society says it is) and teach them about eating, cooking, and exercise. I don't like the turn obesity has taken. I want to make a change and I think a good place to start is with high school students getting ready to leave home for college. As an adult established in society it is hard to change habits long set. It's hard to learn to cook differently. It's hard to start exercising (and doing it properly) when a person has never done it. Because of this, I want to work with young adults before they are on their own. They can teach their parents what they learned and maybe make their family healthier. By doing this, society will have confident people instead of those struggling with their identities and bodies. Fitness has given me a confidence I did not know I could have and eating healthy has left me with energy and feeling good, inside and out. I want my future students to find that same confidence.