In Massachusetts in 1988, after many football, baseball, and basketball games and after delivering the salutatorian speech, I graduated from Tewksbury High School. Apparently, I had fooled a sufficient number of Harvard administrators and they accepted my application for the fall.

      At Harvard, I played football and kept up with my school work, and I received a B.A. in Literature in 1992. During my junior year, I studied one semester abroad at Oxford University in England and traveled throughout Europe on a train pass. The experience was wonderful, and I encourage every student to study abroad for at least a semester. After a brief and troubled trip to Russia to teach English, I received an M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts in 1995. When I graduated, I received the Socrates Lagios Memorial Award for teaching excellence in English.

      After one miserable year teaching in a public school in Massachusetts, I left teaching for a while to pursue my other passion, international affairs. In 2001 and in 2003, I received an M.A. in Political Science (International Affairs) and an M.A. in International Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts. While earning these degrees, I worked with professors in the education department on a number of education projects. Also, I twice worked as an intern for the U.S. State Department, once in Washington, D.C. and once in the U.S. embassy in Moscow.

      As I was finishing my third master's degree, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency offered me a job as an intelligence analyst. While I waited for the top secret clearance, I taught English and math at my former high school. However, the top secret clearance process took almost two years, and my analyst position was no longer available when government officials finished the clearance. Somewhat frustrated with the process, tired of sleeping on a mattress on the floor in my parents' basement (because I could not move during the clearance process), and eager to work with students more, I decided to continue teaching full-time.

      In June of 2008, I finished my third year at The Benjamin School and my sixth year as a full-time high school teacher. I thoroughly enjoy working with high school students, and I especially enjoy working one-on-one with students.