At the tender age of 6 my mother asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up.  After telling my mother I wanted to be a teacher, she ask me to" pick something else", so I said nurse. It wasn't until my grandmother became very ill and required our family to care for her, that I developed the greatest passion for delivering care. I assisted my grandmother with bathing, meal preparation, checking her blood sugar, vital signs, activities of daily living and appropriate exercises tailored for her. One day, while bathing my grandmother, she stated, "You give the best baths, you should be a nurse." Those words echoed in my head loudly and confirmed my path to becoming a nurse. After my youngest child entered kindergarten, I enrolled into the St. Louis Community College-Forest Park.

The fall of 2001, I completed the prerequisite for nursing program and was accepted into the nursing program in January 2002. While enrolled in the nursing program, I worked for a nursing agency as a nurse assistant in local hospitals and nursing homes. December 2003, I graduated from Forest Park Community College with my Associate Degree Applied Science in Nursing. As a registered nurse, I have gained experience in many areas such as neuro-surgery, med-surg, LTAC, home care, mental health including psych & DDTC, and long-term care. In 2010, I obtained a bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Missouri- St. Louis. 

In 2012, I received my CNA Instructor and Clinical Supervisors certification through MANHA, which allowed me to merge my passion to teach with my passion to be a nurse. Not forgetting my first response to mother that I wanted to be teacher, I seized the opportunity to be a Health Occupation Instructor for the community college.  I have to admit, I fell in love with teaching nurse assistants the foundations of health care. 

In January 2017, I accepted a position in the St. Louis Public School District as a Health Occupation Instructor at Gateway STEM High School. With over 25 years of experience in health care and almost 15 years’ of experience as a registered nurse, I am confident that my skills will be an asset and have favorable impact on each of my students. I am vested in the mission of St. Louis Public Schools, “Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow.”