PHILOSOPHY

Most of my life has been framed by accessibility. As a high school student without home access to a computer or internet until I was senior, I know what it’s like struggling to complete homework without the proper tools. Having to go to the local library to wait in line to use the internet is not a footnote in a case study but it is the reality I lived for many years and still experience each time I visit home in rural Tennessee.

As a first-generation student without a network of experienced mentors, navigating both the college application process and college itself was a series of trial and error that resulted in unnecessary debt and more than one extra semester spent in school. It was only until the end of my graduate school experience, nearly two decades of education, that I realized the importance of reaching out for help. Up until then, I largely relied on myself and the internet to do what needed doing.

Now, as an educational professional with knowledge picked up across several continents and seemingly many lives, I have made it my mission to increase the access to not just education, but knowledge itself, so that every student can access what they need to be successful and self-sufficient at whatever it is they want to do.

Educator A.J. Juliani once said, “Our job as leaders, teachers, and parents is not to prepare kids for something; our job is to help kids prepare themselves for anything.” Reducing the barriers to education to increase access to knowledge will empower students of all ages to go out into the world as innovators, creators, leaders, and agents of change. As an educational professional with a proven record of increasing access to knowledge, I will continue to work towards this mission in this role and in others to come.

In this mission, I have made knowledge more accessible in my role as a(n):