Autobiography

Growing up in a small town in rural southwest Wisconsin I was very involved in community
activities as well as school clubs and organizations. It was the participation in these types of
things that led me into the education profession. As a student I was very motivated to succeed
and had a desire to help both my peers in school as well as the community as a whole.
After graduating from Southwestern High School I attended the University of Wisconsin Platteville
for mathematics education. At UW-Platteville I tried my hand at some different campus clubs but
found what I most enjoyed was the university cycling, tutoring and eventually the Hazel Green
Volunteer Fire Department. It was the volunteer fire department that helped me to better
understand the sense of community I loved so much. Helping others in order to build a better
community for tomorrow was a true passion and I looked forward to doing this as a professional
educator.
Upon graduation from UW-Platteville in December of 2005 I found myself in a position many
winter education graduates find themselves in. I was searching for a position to start my career.
Shortly after I began substitute teaching at area schools and it didnt take long for me to be
certain that I had made the correct choice to teach at the middle school or high school level. I
loved being in the classroom and working with students from so many different area schools.
During this time I began searching for a full time teaching position, got married and purchased
my first home. It was a lot of changes in a short time but everything fell into place and the next
fall I was able to start my first full time teaching position.
In the fall of 2006 I began teaching high school mathematics at Dubuque Senior High School. I
cant begin to list all the things I learned while teaching at Senior. I had grown up in a small town
of 1200 people and was now teaching in a school of over 1600 students. As you can imagine this
was a little bit of a culture shock for me. I feel that the challenges of the larger school helped me
to grow as a young educator. There was an excellent support system in place for young
teachers, not to mention many opportunities to learn about the community and socialize with co
workers. During my two years at Senior I grew not only as an educator, but also as a person,
gaining so many experiences both in and out of the classroom.

At the beginning of my second year at Senior High School my wife Jen and I welcomed our first
child Brayden into our lives. It was at the end of this year that I was given an opportunity to return
to Southwestern High School as a high school mathematics teacher. With my family living in the
community I was happy to accept the new challenges that Southwestern had to offer and in 2008
I began teaching at Southwestern Community Schools. It was here that I really found myself as
an educator. I gradually became even more involved in both the school and surrounding
community. I now had experiences that I had gained in both a large district and a small rural high
school.
I was working in what I would consider a perfect situation. I was living in the community in which I
taught and my two oldest children (Brayden and Karson) both attended Southwestern
Elementary while my youngest (Mayah) was able to stay at home with Jen who currently works
providing in home daycare. However, as time went by I decided that I wanted to advance my
education career to the next level. In the summer of 2014 I enrolled in the education
administration program at UW-Platteville. It was shortly after beginning this program that I began
to see that I would have more opportunities to grow as a professional and as a future
administrator if I left Southwestern in order to gain experiences in another district.
In 2014 I left Southwestern and began teaching high school math and high school/middle school
computer science in the Cuba City School District. This change has given me great
opportunities to continue to grow as a professional educator and gain experiences that I hadnt
had in the past. Through my career as a teacher I have been able to be a part of three great
school district each of which helped me to learn and become a better teacher in different ways. I
have been a part of large and small districts, progressive and conservative districts, as well as
taught a wide variety of age and ability levels. All of this has helped me to prepare for what
comes next as a professional educator and I look forward to the challenges in my future.