Bio.
Perpetually on the move, but grounded in my faith. Passionate about education, erudition, and Eurovision.
TLDR: Born and raised in Maryland, bachelors from UNC - Chapel Hill (2009), MEd from Virginia (2012), recently earning my PhD from Ok State (2021). My academic focus has transitioned from child psychology, to school psychology, to college student development. From 2017 - 2019, I served as secretary of my local Democratic Party and in 2018, I founded the first-ever community-based pride festival in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I successfully defended my dissertation in September 2021 to earn my doctorate degree. In this year, I was also elected to serve as vice chair of Democrats Abroad Norway. I aspire to help rural communities across the US and Canada have their own pride festivals and to eventually serve as US Secretary of Education.
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Involvements on
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Quiz Master André, local quiz host and personality in Stavanger
Founder, Payne County (OK) Pride Association Director, Payne County Pride (OK) Association (2018-2019) Co-Host, Our Queer Experience Podcast Secretary, Payne County (OK) Democrats (2017-2019) Founder, Oklahoma State Improv Presents! Player, Oklahoma City Improv Cluster Facilitator, University of Cincinnati UHP LeaderShape (2012, 2013, 2014) Coordinating Committee, University of Cincinnati Student Leadership Conference (2013-14) Eurovision Obsession, personal blog Head of PR & Distribution, The Hill: Chapel Hill Political Review (2007-2009) |
Developing My Passions | Striving toward my Goals
I am deeply rooted in my Christian faith. All that I do and aspire to be spring forth from this root. As such, I have spent my life pursuing a calling to work in education, from developmental psychology to school psychology to ed psych to higher education. I see education as a powerful key to leveling the uneven playing field and striking against the structures of oppression within our societies. This passion is what pushes me to engage with my research, to fight for greater representation in the discussion of the queer experience, and in my engagement with politics. In all cases, I am moving toward increasing access to education, increasing the quality of education, and increasing the power of education.
My mother is a retired teacher and my father retired from a career child welfare policy work. To say that I grew up in a household that valued education would be an understatement. I am also the youngest of four, all of my siblings excelled in school, in athletics, and in their social circles. These were the expectations thrust upon me throughout my youth. I played baseball and basketball before switching to track & field in high school. I chose a different path from my siblings by picking up the alto sax and pursuing music with earnest. Also, unlike my siblings, I had a moderate to severe speech impediment that got me enrolled in school before the age of three. Why an articulation disorder may not be the biggest obstacle someone may overcome, for me, it took fifteen years (and some would argue longer) to master speaking like a typical person. It was this exposure to the support systems offered by my school district and getting an inside look at how my schools were run that sparked a love for education and wanting to be a part of schools forever. For a long time, I wanted to be a teacher - and then I found psychology. I fell in love with the idea of understanding how we learn and how we turn our experiences into personalities and behaviors. My first internship was as a senior in high school, working under a school psychologist in a local elementary school - helping create a peer tutoring program, teaching anti-bullying lessons, and running a handwriting intervention group. I spent my undergraduate career fully devoted to diving into developmental, educational, and school psychologies - choosing courses, research experiences, and even my study abroad on these interests. However, in this pursuit, I began to see my interest take shape just off-center of my peers. My first graduate program proved to be a bad fit because of this movement. Despite the deep dismay and distress that resulted from the decision to leave that program, it spurred me toward student affairs. In this field, I could still focus on developmental science, but keep it in settled within the broader context of the collegiate experience. I began to pursue higher education with the same vigor with which I pursued psychology. And found a new home.
This process also made me very aware of the need to engage with politics. It was no longer acceptable to keep my opinions to myself; I needed to work to make change in my community. In moving to Oklahoma, I knew I wanted to engage with the Democratic Party so I could help move the state forward. As I began to engage with the party, I realized that, while I loved working in politics, I also knew that there was something else I needed to do. While I had never felt too comfortable in queer spaces, I also knew that just the knowledge of their existence made my process of understanding myself and accepting who I am easier. In particular, the one event where I always felt out of place - pride festivals - I saw as vitally important signals of a healthy and accepted queer community within a town or area. I also saw them as a way for those outside the queer community to engage with LGBTQ+ folks and learn more. It was with this in mind that I decided to establish Payne County Pride as the county's first community-based pride festival with celebration, education, and accessibility as the central mission. I was fortunate to have a committee come together smoothly and we held our first festival on April 6, 2019, less than one year after our founding.
In addition to my academic, professional, and community activity, I also completed improv courses with OKC Improv and performed on their stage as well as a part of the first collegiate improv festival held at the University of Central Oklahoma. I am a die-hard fan of the Eurovision Song Contest and love sharing this passion. I'm an avid traveler, baker, and musician.
My mother is a retired teacher and my father retired from a career child welfare policy work. To say that I grew up in a household that valued education would be an understatement. I am also the youngest of four, all of my siblings excelled in school, in athletics, and in their social circles. These were the expectations thrust upon me throughout my youth. I played baseball and basketball before switching to track & field in high school. I chose a different path from my siblings by picking up the alto sax and pursuing music with earnest. Also, unlike my siblings, I had a moderate to severe speech impediment that got me enrolled in school before the age of three. Why an articulation disorder may not be the biggest obstacle someone may overcome, for me, it took fifteen years (and some would argue longer) to master speaking like a typical person. It was this exposure to the support systems offered by my school district and getting an inside look at how my schools were run that sparked a love for education and wanting to be a part of schools forever. For a long time, I wanted to be a teacher - and then I found psychology. I fell in love with the idea of understanding how we learn and how we turn our experiences into personalities and behaviors. My first internship was as a senior in high school, working under a school psychologist in a local elementary school - helping create a peer tutoring program, teaching anti-bullying lessons, and running a handwriting intervention group. I spent my undergraduate career fully devoted to diving into developmental, educational, and school psychologies - choosing courses, research experiences, and even my study abroad on these interests. However, in this pursuit, I began to see my interest take shape just off-center of my peers. My first graduate program proved to be a bad fit because of this movement. Despite the deep dismay and distress that resulted from the decision to leave that program, it spurred me toward student affairs. In this field, I could still focus on developmental science, but keep it in settled within the broader context of the collegiate experience. I began to pursue higher education with the same vigor with which I pursued psychology. And found a new home.
This process also made me very aware of the need to engage with politics. It was no longer acceptable to keep my opinions to myself; I needed to work to make change in my community. In moving to Oklahoma, I knew I wanted to engage with the Democratic Party so I could help move the state forward. As I began to engage with the party, I realized that, while I loved working in politics, I also knew that there was something else I needed to do. While I had never felt too comfortable in queer spaces, I also knew that just the knowledge of their existence made my process of understanding myself and accepting who I am easier. In particular, the one event where I always felt out of place - pride festivals - I saw as vitally important signals of a healthy and accepted queer community within a town or area. I also saw them as a way for those outside the queer community to engage with LGBTQ+ folks and learn more. It was with this in mind that I decided to establish Payne County Pride as the county's first community-based pride festival with celebration, education, and accessibility as the central mission. I was fortunate to have a committee come together smoothly and we held our first festival on April 6, 2019, less than one year after our founding.
In addition to my academic, professional, and community activity, I also completed improv courses with OKC Improv and performed on their stage as well as a part of the first collegiate improv festival held at the University of Central Oklahoma. I am a die-hard fan of the Eurovision Song Contest and love sharing this passion. I'm an avid traveler, baker, and musician.