My Education
I have had a long and somewhat unusual education!
I attended a mixture of public and parochial elementary schools in the Traverse City area of Michigan's lower penninsula. However, in the seventh grade, I began homeschooling, during which time, I was primarily instructed by my mother. While we covered all the topics that anybody else my age would have covered, we focused most heavily on the liberal arts, including, but certainly not limited to, Composition, Literature, History and Music. If I can be said to have any academic prowess at all, I am certain that I owe it all to these years at home.
By the time I rejoined the public school system for my senior high school year, I was very nearly remedial in my math and science skills, but at or above the freshman college level in literary comprehension, analysis and composition. However, homeschooling tends to foster self-motivated learning and, as a result, I had no problem catching up and surpassing the expected level of knowledge by the time I graduated from Traverse City West Senior High.
For a number of compelling reasons, I attended Northwestern Michigan College, a two year community college, immediately following high school. I initially chose to study Mechanical Engineering, but after one semester, I decided that I wanted to be a music teacher instead! I received my associate's degree from NMC in May 2001 with a focus on Music Education.
In the fall of 2001, I moved to Marquette, MI and began attending Northern Michigan University to continue my degree in music education. However, one semester later, I decided that music was great as a hobby, but not as a way of life! I changed majors again, this time to Philosophy... (note to any students reading this... if you can't decide on a major, you're not alone!). About a year later, I took an introductory Java programming class as a math elective and I was instantly hooked. I was relieved to have finally found something I liked and that didn't include starving on a street corner for the rest of my life! Finally, I graduated from NMU with degrees in philosophy and Computer Science and minors in math and music.
Clearly, the academic life appeals to me, so it's no surprise that, following my stint at NMU, I decided to puruse a Ph.D in computer science at nearby Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI. I spent seven semesters teaching intro-level programming classes and now I am ready to start my research in earnest. If all goes well, I will be involved with education for the rest of my life!
