I am now a 5th grade teacher at Garfield Charter School in Menlo Park, CA. Last June I completed my third year of teaching.

I graduated from Stanford University in 1998 with a BA in Public Policy and an MA in Sociology.

After graduation, I joined Partners in School Innovation, a state AmeriCorps program dedicated to helping schools in the Bay Area achieve their own reform goals. Wisely, I was placed at Garfield along with my totally rad (yes, I was born and raised in Southern California) team of fellow Partners. For two years we helped create sustainable systems of reform that live on at Garfield. My focus at Garfield was technology, working with Arturo Aldana, the school's Technology Resource Teacher at the time, to help teachers use technology as a tool to increase student achievement.

I chose to work in education largely because during the spring and summer of my junior year at Stanford, I was breakin' it down in D.C. through the Stanford in Washington program, working for the U.S. Department of Education at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, in the Goals 2000 office, specifically with the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund. That's a mouthful, isn't it? During those five months, I acquired a passion for education policy that remains with me.

In college, primarily through my experiences at the Haas Center for Public Service, I slowly opened up my eyes to a whole new way of thinking about this country and how we treat people here. I spent three years as Director of Community Outreach for Stanford in Government (SIG), the most hip and happenin' student organization on campus. My senior year I had the honor of being one of thirteen Public Service Scholars at the Haas Center. More than anything else, what I learned is that children, especially, often find themselves lacking the kinds of opportunities and support they need to make their aspirations attainable. It certainly doesn't seem right that achieving the American dream should be more difficult for some kids and easier for others simply by virtue of where they live , the language their parents speak, or how much money their family has.

So here I am.

Want to know more about what I think? One cool thing about my senior year is that I dabbled in the world of journalism as a weekly column writer for The Stanford Daily. For your viewing convenience, I've put together a list of my columns for you.