I grew up moving around a lot… central New York, central Florida, northern Florida, back to central New York. Until recently, I never lived in one household longer than five years.
Speaking of houses, I have a love for old houses. In fact, my spouse, our two children and our dog live in a house just east of Troy that is 232 years old, built in 1790. It is a local historic landmark. In fact, we love our old house so much, we’ve made a hobby out of renovating it… one room at a time. Maybe we will eventually restore the old grist mill in our barn… maybe.
As a kid, living in Jacksonville, Florida, my team won a national championship in a Jump Rope for Heart competition, an event that raises money to fight heart disease. At the time, I could double dutch with nine other people and multiple ropes at the same time. Now, I can still hang with the best of them, but my jumping is not quite as quick as it used to be.
I love jumping so much that I took to the sky in my very first skydiving adventure in 2011 with a fellow Siena alum and good friend of mine. We saw beautiful views of the Jersey Shore from 10,000 feet and I can’t wait to go again someday!
I have five brothers and two sisters (all half siblings)… you can imagine how wild our house was when we were all together or how crazy the weddings and family gatherings are these days.
As a first generation college graduate, I care deeply about access to education. This also means many of my family members think I have ‘all the brains of the family’ but that’s not always true.
At just 5 years old I purchased my very own pony with the money in my piggy bank. His name was Thunder. He lived on our family farm with many other animals, including sheep, ducks, chickens, bunnies, and pigs/piglets who I used to hang out with in my spare time!
I love to garden. The first year we ever planted a garden, we didn't know much and planted so many tomato plants that we had over 200 tomatoes! If you know me, we obviously donated them to a local food co-op/ pantry.
I am a member of the founding class of Bonner Service Leaders at Siena. This program is near and dear to my heart and deserves much of the credit for providing me the support I needed to be successful at Siena. As a Bonner I had the opportunity to travel all over for conferences and I even spent a summer interning at the Bonner Foundation in New Jersey. My love for engaging with the community began at a very young age and has continued throughout my life. I am currently the President of the Board of Directors for Boys & Girls Clubs of the Capital Area, the very organization that I served with during my time as a Bonner Service Leader 15 years ago.
I have a love for the service industry and have worked for years as a server, bartender and ice cream scooper! The summer after my freshman year at Siena I spent on the 'Rusty Anchor' barge on the Hudson River in Watervliet in the evenings after spending my days coordinating Siena's Mentoring Program summer camp!
