I have fifteen years of experience working in education. I was a public school teacher in Mountain View and Daly City in California for five years teaching English/lanugage arts to students in grades 6-8. I taught a variety of courses in remedial reading and writing, advanced reading, standard 6th grade language arts, standard 7th grade language arts, and journalism/yearbook. I also started the Environmental Club and oversaw it for three years at Graham Middle School in Mountain View. I then moved to Oregon and taught as a long-term substitute teacher and on-call daily substitute in the Bend area for five years, teaching a wide variety of subjects in the high school grades. For the last six years, I have lived back in California in the Santa Cruz Mountains with my husband. I was fortunate enough to be able to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail in 2021, which deepened my desires to work in outdoor education as a career one day. Once COVID began, I transitioned to being a private homeschool teacher and private tutor working for myself/independent contracting, and have not taught in the public schools since. I have done a lot of volunteer work for Sempervirens Fund and other conservation/preservation nonprofits in the area and began my service as a CCAC fellow in September in Watsonville. I also have experience working in restaurants as a server for additonal income for ten years. I had my first baby a week ago and am now a mom on maternity leave. My maternity leave will last for the duration of the course.