Spotlight On . . .

First thing to know about me is that I’m a country kid. I grew up on a dairy farm near a small town called Timboon. It is 225 kilometres away from here and very close to the Twelve Apostles.

My parents, brothers and sister still live there with their families. When I was a kid I loved to climb trees, make cubbies, ride my bike, do lots of cooking as well as play lots of sport. I played netball, basketball, tennis and table tennis. I really wanted to play AFL but girls weren’t allowed back then or they didn’t have teams to play in. I also did 5 years of Taekwondo. 

Growing up on a farm meant I always had lots of interesting things to do including chores. Some of my jobs included helping my Dad to milk the cows and riding a motorbike to get the cows in from the paddock. I also fed the calves and had to clean the cow yard. (Which was pretty gross because I had to hose down the poo that the cows did in the yard! It was also very stinky!) I loved being around lots of animals, we had pigs, ducks, a horse, dogs, cats and lots of cows of course. I loved growing up on a farm but I always wanted to live in the city. 

When I finished High School, I went straight to Ballarat University where I completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree specialising in Media, Film and Drama. I was lucky enough to do lots of fun things during this time including writing a theatre production, I acted in a few shows, I was a Media Relations Officer for the Murray Marathon where I got to do live radio Interviews. I also performed a radio show that I helped write and made a documentary. One of my favourite things was being a writer for our University Newspaper where I got to meet and interview a couple of my favourite singers and bands. 

My next step was to move to Melbourne and complete my degree in Teaching. I wanted to do a teaching degree because that meant I could teach my students about the things I loved, like writing, drama and media.  I enrolled in a Post-Graduate Bachelor of Education. In this degree I decided to do both Primary and Secondary Education because I didn’t know if I wanted to teach little kids or big kids. By doing this it meant I would be qualified to teach both, and I have! For the first 3 years I taught Year 7- Year 12 English, Media and Drama at High School. I then decided to work as a Performing Arts Specialist in a Primary School. Over the years I have also taught Sport as a Specialist area. I loved teaching Sport because I could play games and be active. I have taught every level, Foundation to Year 12. Each level is great for different reasons, I loved them all! When I was a kid I said I wanted to be an Art Teacher. That is one area I haven’t taught, maybe one day!

So right now, what am I up to? Lots! I live not too far from school with my husband Matt and our three kids, Jake who is in Year 11, Mikayla who is in Year 9 and Asher who is in Year 4 at Syndal South. We also have a dog, Sadie a black Mini-schnauzer and Tonky a ginger cat. The last year has been very exciting for us because we have been building a new house, (the builder has, not us!! Haha!) We moved in 3 weeks ago. 

Although I am very busy teaching and raising my 3 kids, I do have some hobbies, when I have free time. My hobbies include spending time with my family, theatre, movies, listening to music, walking my dog or doing something sporty like Zumba. I like to go camping, we go twice a year with our caravan to Port Fairy and Point Lonsdale. I love travelling and I’ve been to lots of awesome places around Australia and overseas. My favourite country to visit is Vietnam, I’ve been there 3 times now and that’s where I want to go on my next trip. I have travelled extensively throughout Asia and my most recent trip was to India where I got to see Taj Mahal on my birthday. I can’t wait to travel again soon and one of my dreams would be to live and teach overseas one day.