I fell in love with classics as an undergraduate. During high school, I had taken a few Latin courses, and I had a genuine interest in the language (as a child, I had even attempted to teach myself Latin from a book, which didn't go so well, but clearly I had an attraction to Latin from an early age!), but it wasn't something I imagined myself pursuing in any serious way in higher education. In the first semester of my freshman year at college, however, due to a mix up with my schedule, I ended up in a Roman history course, and it transformed my world. I was entranced by both the subject matter and the teacher, and when the second semester came around, I made sure to sign up for as many classics courses as I could take. By sophomore year, I was learning ancient Greek and declaring my major in classics. I received my BA in Latin Language and Literature (with an undeclared minor in ancient Greek) from Oberlin College. 

During my senior year of college, I made the decision to apply to graduate school. By that time, I had decided that I wanted to share my excitement for the classical world by becoming a teacher, and given my passion for classics, I preferred to deepen my knowledge of the subject rather than to attend a master's of education program. I received a merit-based classics fellowship from the University of Virginia, from which I received my MA in Classics. 

I have been a Latin language tutor for my entire adult life, I have taught Latin language and literature courses on the college level, and as a teacher at a private school in Virginia, I taught Latin language courses (intro Latin all the way through AP Latin) for middle schoolers and upper schoolers. In all of my Latin language courses, I was careful to stress the etymological heritage of the English language, and many class sessions were devoted to etymological exercises. Even in my Latin language classes on Outschool, I like to provide English derivatives for new Latin vocabulary in an effort to help students not only remember the meaning of the Latin words, but to help them to increase their English vocabulary, as well.