About Me

While in college, I worked at the math tutoring center on-campus which gave me the opportunity to support students with many different experiences and relationships with mathematics. These experiences have reinforced my belief that mathematical ability cannot be measured simply by speed, memorization, or procedural accuracy. 

In many ways, this website is a love letter to the student I used to be:

• The student who confused difficulty with failure. 

• The student who learned to stay quiet instead of risk being wrong. 

• The student who thought struggling meant not belonging.

Now, those experiences have become fuel. 

I cannot redesign every educational system overnight. But I can choose to create classrooms where students feel seen. I can listen before making assumptions. I can reduce barriers that never needed to exist in the first place. 

Maybe most importantly, I can help students understand that struggling with the structure of school doesn't mean they are incapable of doing mathematics. 

I care about this work because I know what it feels like to sit in a classroom believing you are the problem. I also know how powerful it can be when someone finally recognizes your strengths instead of only your struggles. 

Ultimately, students deserve to know they are not "just bad at math." My hope is that this work helps create classrooms where students do not have to spend years wondering whether they belong there. 

I believe mathematics classrooms should be places where students feel safe to think. 

Too often, students learn that mathematics is about being fast, quiet, and correct. Students who process differently may begin to internalize the belief that they are unintelligent or incapable, when in reality they may simply need different pathways into learning. 

My goal as a teacher is not to lower expectations, but to reduce unnecessary barriers that prevent students from demonstrating what they know. 

Students deserve classrooms where:

• thinking matters more than being fast

• mistakes are treated as part of learning

• multiple approaches are valued

• curiosity is encouraged

• support is not viewed as weakness

• students are not reduced to deficits or labels

I believe many students (and adults) who think they are "bad at math" are actually responding to inaccessible systems, unnecessary barriers, and narrow definitions of mathematical ability. 

I want students to leave our classroom believing that mathematics is something they are capable of participating in. 

Not Just Bad at Math: Experiencing How Math Can Feel for Neurodivergent Students

This workshop started as my honors capstone project exploring how mathematics classrooms can unintentionally create barriers for neurodivergent students. 

The project combines research and interactive professional development activities designed to help educators better understand barriers related to: 

• processing speed

• working memory

• decoding and language

• sensory overload

• executive functioning

• anxiety and performance pressure

• communication differences

Rather than framing neurodivergence through a deficit lens, my work focuses on how classroom structures, expectations, and institutional practices can either increase or reduce barriers for students. 

The project is heavily informed by neurodiversity-affirming practices and Universal Design for Learning, which emphasize designing learning environments that anticipate learner variability rather than treating accommodations as exceptions. 

I am especially interested in helping educators rethink assumptions about mathematical ability, particularly the ways schools often equate intelligence with speed, compliance, memorization, or neatness instead of reasoning, creativity, persistence, and problem solving. 

Research & Reflective Writing

Essays and reflections (on this website!) exploring:

• neurodiversity

• mathematics identity

• classroom belonging

• educational trauma

• accessibility

• student voice

• the emotional experiences students carry through school

Recipient of the Delta College Board of Trustees Award

Recipient of the Richtmeyer-Foust Award for Outstanding Senior in Mathematics at Central Michigan University

I'm always interested in conversations about:

• mathematics education

• neurodiversity and accessibility

• inclusive teaching practices

• student belonging and identity in mathematics

Feel free to reach out:

Email: