About Me

I am a Early Childhood teacher. I LOVE what I do. I love young children! I would rather work with kids than adults because adults can play "head games" with you. I like honesty and small kids are honest, that is for sure. I love seeing their faces light up with knowledge and understanding! I presently teach Kindergarten in my hometown of Kingstree, South Carolina. The children are so precious to me. Of all the things I do well, I know that I validate them for who they are and do my best to let them know it okay to be who they are. They validate me in the same way. It is a privilege for a child to call me by name, because children "know" the truth. You cannot fool a child about what is in your heart and soul. I give of myself to get the same in return. And I have gotten it for 21 years!
What a joy to be in a profession that shapes the minds of those who will grow into adulthood and lead the world!

I play piano, organ, and have been in thirteen Broadway Musicals in the Community Theater here close to my home. The Lake City Community Theater company is known throughout South Carolina and has a reputation of being a very talented, well organized company. The plays are done once a year, so they are very big productions. The budget for these plays can be as much as $30,000. I have enjoyed so much being a part of these plays. I believe being a teacher and having to keep attentions focused has prepared me to be a real "actress"! I am very humbled by my list of credits and have been so fortunate to "rub shoulders" with some amazingly talented friends. I am so blessed to have had the wonderful training of my Mother, a single parent, having lost my father at the age of three. She saw to it that I had the traditional "Southern Belle" upbringing. Girl Scouts, piano lessons, organ lessons, voice lessons, dance and ballet, Youth Choirs, Ensembles,and Music camps in the summer became "regulars" in my early years. I am so grateful to her for making me the woman that I am. She was a phenomenal person!

I have also had the privilege in my life of being the Camp Director for the Florence(SC) Special Needs and Disabilites Board. I ran summer camp programs for special needs children and adults for 17 years. They offer two day camps (for kids) and two residential camps for adults. Nothing like going with 100 special needs adults for a week of camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina! Again, this experience enriched my life and made me humble. I loved those campers with all my heart. How misunderstood special needs and disabled folks are! They are all precious friends to me...they became a "family" to me. The staff was awesome in their tasks to provide respite care and meaningful memories and experiences for these we served during camp. I became a better person for it. I have had the opportunity to work with absolutely the best staff any camps could have!
They were relentless, giving, overcame all obstacles, and could go 24/7 if that was what it took to have great camp experience. I have seen 60 year old disabled individuals climb an challenging eighty foot tower unassisted! What guts! When they reached the top, the euphoric excitement showed in their faces and made me ask myself...."Now who is handicapped?"....is it me or them? Certainly it was ME! I could have never managed to climb that tower nor would I have attempted it! What an eye-opening experience for me...!! Woe be unto those who make presumptions about mentally or physically challenged individuals!