Years at CPLS: 2024-present

Education: BA-History and Religion, Palm Beach Atlantic University
MA-History, University of South Florida
PhD-Curriculum and Instruction, University of South Florida

Why I teach at CPLS: I teach at Cair Paravel because God called our family to Kansas to be near family, and when I toured the school, I fell in love with its mission, curriculum, and culture. I have spent many years in education, and I know the value and uniqueness of classical Christian education. It is a joy to teach in a place where everything done has intrinsic and eternal worth. It is a blessing for our three children to also be here.

Personal Testimony: I came to faith in Christ through the influence of my aunt and uncle who took me to church and VBS since I was in early elementary school. Although I was not raised in a Christian family, I came to know the gospel through their dedication and the ministry of the local church we attended. I accepted Jesus as my savior as a young child, but it was in 8th grade that I realized the need to be baptized and to fully give my life to God. It was through the grace of God that I grew in my faith steadily through high school and won a significant scholarship to a Christian university. My professors there were critical in the shaping of my Christian worldview and also gave me the gift of having a faith that relied on my relationship with Jesus, not my intellect.

While I love philosophy, apologetics, and great ideas, I have learned over the years that my faith is really grounded in the fact that Jesus is real person to me. I struggled with doubt and questions in my early college years, until I realized that I have known Jesus for most of my life, and my relationship with Him is something that I could never deny. It may be easy to reject or dismiss a mere idea, but it is much harder to walk away from a person, especially a person whom you love, and even more so a person who you know loves you enough to take your place and punishment. It is by Jesus’s sacrifice, grace, and love for me that I am saved. I am also eternally grateful for the spiritual mentors God has given me over the years, including those I never met, namely C.S. Lewis. When I found a school dedicated to one of the greatest spiritual mentors of my life, I knew that I was home.