Meet the Candidate

Every mind, much like fingerprints, is generally unique to the individual. Having three kids of my own I can confidently say none of them are alike. Within each classroom there are many different types of minds. We have atypical, ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, autism, dyspraxia, etc... It's what Sociologist Judy Singer called Neurodiversity.

The two things almost every mind shares are a need for engagement and an aversion to boredom. Unfortunately many neurodiverse students have difficulty taking part in classes because fleeting thoughts compete for attention. Having ADHD myself, I remember how hard it was to understand material when I wasn’t mentally present for the lecture. I wasn’t really “disabled” from learning, just bored. It took me well into my college years to figure what strategies helped me to study “boring” information.

I’ve worked for decades in advertising, corporate and consumer marketing, and digital media. Billions of dollars are spent every year to research human behavior in order to maximize engagement. With the wealth of behavioral science and research available, I want to help create a curriculum that guide our students to desire learning.

 As a kid, I loved the field of science, technology, and animation. My parents also, especially my dad, loved gadgets, which was great for me because I loved taking things apart… sometimes with a hammer. Since those days I’ve tried to keep up with new discoveries and technological breakthroughs.

With the advent of tablets in the classrooms, app development, software as a service, the internet of things, and distance learning I believe we can now more than ever construct a curriculum that focuses on concept mastery. Over the past 20+ years I’ve had the fortune of working with many national and international brands to create engagement using varied technology. Shortly before having kids of my own, I’d often think about how these growing technology trends can be used in schools. Tools like augmented and virtual reality, service development and deployment, realtime data analytics, courseload logistics. I would love to explore their positive impact on our schools in Kittery.