I graduated from Merrimack college with a Bachelor's Degree in biology. After graduation, I went to work for an environmental remediation engineering company for a couple of years before heading off to graduate school. I attended Central Michigan University for a few years while I took classes and did my Master's thesis on an invasive fish species of Lake Michigan which is titled: "A DIET ANALYSIS AND SELECTIVITY OF JUVENILE AND ADULT ALEWIVES, Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson) IN NORTHEAST LAKE MICHIGAN."
I have been teaching middle school science for 10 years and started teaching at Tyngsborough Middle School. I joined the Innovation Academy Charter School in Tyngsborough during September, 2010 and have large ambitions for the future of the science program while helping students learn to use 21st century technology to become more productive, and successful students.
I have been fortunate enough to travel and participate in some field ecology courses to Belize/Guatamala (coral reef ecology/Tropical rainforest ecology), Brazil (Amazon tropical rainforest and river ecology), and Tanzania (Serengeti tropical savanna ecology).
I enjoy hiking, doing home improvement projects, and running (I got bored with this until I got inspired by "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall; I have since changed my running techniques and now I enjoy running up hills). I go home to a loving best friend (wife) and two twin sons who keep me busy; they inspire me to stay healthy so I can keep up with them!
With the foresight of having to chase after 2 boys along with the threats from my doctor, I decided to get healthier. It has been a challenging but rewarding journey that started about 6 years ago and I am: (1) hoping I can keep it up and (2) hope to inspire some of my students to work hard and live healthier lives.
Recent running (borderline crawling) conquests:
- June 2012 - Mt. Washington road race (2:16:11). Affectionately known as "the rock pile." The slogan goes "there's only one hill" but boy that was one heck of a hill. It was the most difficult physical thing I had done. Ever! 7.6 miles uphill and about 20 minutes after finishing I said to my wife "I don't think I have any ambitions of doing this again. Well, 2 days later I was signing up for my 2nd mountain race.
- July 8, 2012 - Loon Mountain race (1:25:15). Five miles uphill. Easy? The description said something about the "infamous walking boss." Of course, I find out that this extremely steep part of the course called "upper walking boss" is considered one of the most challenging USATF sections of any course in the country. Needless to say, I was definitely "bossed" around on that part to the point of almost crawling (and crying).
- July 22, 2012 - Ascutney Mountain race, Windsor, VT (58:14). Only 3.7 miles. The winning runner was quoted to say something along the lines of "that was horrible" and related it to the Mount Washington run. This was a very difficult small run that kicked my rear end from the beginning. I didn't get as much training in so I suffered a bit more than the other races.
- September 30, 2012. This will be my first half marathon. Can you hear my knees-a-knocking? Aggrevated an old heel injury after running 13.5 miles to get ready for the race and couldn't run the 1/2 marathon. Oh well, it was a great run even though it knocked me out of running for 3 weeks!
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