I started my journey unlike many others that are teaching today. I graduated from Cactus High School in the Peoria Unified School District, I won a full-ride scholarship to Arizona Culinary Institute from a cooking competition in high school called C-CAP. I had already worked in a few different restaurants by the time I had graduated and I spent a total of 12 1/2 years in front of the house and back of the house positions and cooking was my passion since I was a young boy watching and or helping my grandma cook or watching Wolf Gang Puck, Iron Chef or Emeril Lagasse!

I'm a huge outdoor enthusiast. I love everything out doors. I hunt, fish, camp, offroad, I did desert racing on a Yamaha Yfz450 ATV for 5 years, and then I changed to side by sides. My "I've died and gone to heaven" place to ride and camp is the California sand dunes in Glamis, California. I used to own a yellow, black and white Yamaha YXZ1000r SE! You will see pictures of it hanging in my classroom. But I sold it before the end of last year to prepare to buy my first house which will be complete at the end of 2023!!

I have 2 kids my daughter Reese, is 2 and my son Wyatt is 5. I have been married to a beautiful amazing woman turned Mom for 5 years, but together a total of 17 years, her name is Jeny. If you ever get a chance to come to my classroom and check it out, you will see pictures of all my friends, family and hobbies on my board called, "ME!" right inside my classroom! 

Well now comes the question, "Well how did you get in to sign language??"

While I was going to the dunes, I met my Deaf group who are now my now best friends, 18 years ago, and we have been best of friends ever since! We have all grown and have kids now and continue to hang out. They are the ones that pulled me to the Deaf community and eventually made me learn about the Interpreter community. They all figured that since I was learning how to communicate with them and I did it so well that I should go to Phoenix College and get my degree in Sign Language Interpreting. So that's what I did! I started working in K-12 as an interpreter before I got my Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) test results which allowed me to continue to work as a K-12 ASL Interpreter. I found my passion and stayed in it for 9 1/2 years and just needed to move up financially and I was limited, so I left. :-(

I got a job at the Post office as a contracted mail carrier and that is what I am currently doing on Saturdays and on holidays off from school during the school year and all summer. I have been doing this job for 5 1/2 years and I always felt like I had some unfinished business and passionate ties to the deaf community. So I became a teacher in 2022 as the job opportunity fell in my lap and since I don't believe in coincidence, after coming to Deer Valley High School, I just had an immense pull to take the leap! I wanted to start something new in my journey called LIFE! So here I am today with a passion and tie to the Deaf community and I hope to spread good ASL skills on to my students so they feel confident in sparking up a conversation out in public, in their jobs, or maybe even for a family member. I am attending ASU to get my Certification in Secondary Education through the Mary Lou Fulton School of Teachers Aug 2023!

I have found out that almost everyone I know in all walks of life, knows someone, somehow, somewhere in their life that has a hearing loss and uses sign language to communicate. With the rise of Deaf roles and sign language on the big screen in TV shows and movies (Switched at Birth and CODA), more and more youth are drawn to learning sign language as a means to connect and make new friends! I hope that through my class this continues to grow and my students grow and learn a lot!