“I was born in Nashua, New Hampshire. [My family] moved to Arizona when I was 5 and stayed there for 5 years, moved up to Seattle and lived in the Seattle area for a bit, and in 3 years moved to St. Louis, and then [I] ended up going to undergrad in Ohio, and grad school in Illinois. There were times it was hard, being in a new school, can be shy in my personal life, as a kid didn’t know how to deal with that, [my] parents didn’t understand why it was a challenge; deep down maybe a fear of being rejected. That was hard, but [I] always made good friends and enjoyed where I lived.

[Some of the hobbies I’ve done] growing up to now are music, playing the drums which I started when I was 11 or 12 and still do today. I also listen to music, used to play soccer, now watch soccer. In high school, I was a forward and in college was a back and a midfielder. 

At first, I didn’t like college and it was a bit difficult, soccer is what kept me going at college, along with being afraid to tell my parents I wanted to drop out. I worked for a year after college which helped a bit. I’d say if you recognize college is not for you, come up with a clear backup plan. I started as a philosophy major but it just wasn’t for me, so I decided to go into education since I liked reading and writing.”

Favorite book? all time is Moby-Dick, read it 3 times and have gotten away from a standard structure. [It’s] really fascinating how [the author] reinvents structure; it’s really captivating.

Everything I learned in life has come from music and sports. [One thing I learned is] determination. [In] sports and music, as you evolve, you’re just gonna run up against obstacles and are not instantly rewarding, not gonna show progress in a week, maybe in a couple months. But they really make you work; if I want to be at least decent at something I have to be determined at working, not an easy job and gonna have setbacks and challenges.

When you really get into things it pushes you in a different direction, so that’s I think a big part of why I like sort of off-structure things like jazz or Moby-Dick.”

I’m proud of being a teacher, I feel good about coming to school even if it’s a challenging day, it’s a profession that I find a lot of value in, trying to help you guys move on to whatever your dreams are, proud of my wife, she’s been amazing, she does really amazing work at her job in Nike, really proud of my aunts and uncles and cousins, really proud of my friends and really interesting stuff in their lives and seeing them grow in different ways.”