I grew up in a large Wisconsin family. I graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a degree in Consumer and Family Science Education (it was still called Home Economics Education then).  After graduating, I moved to Austin, Texas and started my first teaching job in a Juvenile Detention Center.  5 years later, I moved to Colorado.  Jobs in Consumer and Family Science were few and far between, so I subbed.  I soon realized that I was drawn to working with children with Special Needs.  I went back to school at the University of Northern Colorado and received my degree in Special Education.  I have been a Special Education teacher for many years.  I have done all my work as a Special Education teacher in the St. Vrain Valley School District. But a teacher never stops learning, so I went back to school at the University of Colorado-Boulder and finished my degree as a Reading Teacher.