I graduated from Occidental College where I earned my BA in English and Comparative Literary Studies with a minor in Classical Studies. I mostly did math when I was in high school (thanks to our Geometry and AP Calculus teacher, Mrs. Stone, who would patiently explain concepts in as many different ways as took for everyone to understand). But when I found myself in a spring freshman writing class (that I had picked from a list for its name alone, 'The Hero vs Death and God') in which we were reading Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, and the Aeneid, suddenly a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me the more I read and learned. Once again, it was the professor who brought the texts to life for us. I went on to study Ancient Greek and Roman literature, art, history, philosophy, language, and linguistics as well as British and American literature, ancient and modern philosophy including both Existentialism and Continental philosophy (as opposed to Analytic philosophy) with that same professor. It was because of him and Mrs. Stone that I wanted to become a teacher; they were kind and patient with us, knew how to explain anything and everything so that anyone could understand it, and they were both able to inspire their students to excel well beyond what they thought they could achieve. So when I got a job teaching middle school Latin and junior English (an ancient Greek literature, philosophy and history survey course no less) at a charter school in my home state, I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to teach exactly what I had studied in school.

When the master teacher of the English department learned that I had been awarded 'Distinction' on my Senior Comprehensive Project essays, she had me take over as advisor for two high school seniors who were struggling with their Senior Thesis Project and needed more help. This was highly irregular as first year teachers almost never advised seniors their first year. Each year for nine years I advised three to six advisees (2-3 was considered a full load), almost all of whom earned 'Passes with Excellence' on their essays and thesis defenses. I taught 11th-grade Literature five times, 12th-grade English once, and 19 or so classes of middle school Latin (I, II, and III).

I would say that I take an etymological and linguistic approach to Latin and Ancient Greek, and I specialize in detail-centered close readings of literature, poetry, and philosophy with the aim of developing textually corroborated interpretations and the formulation of meaningful theses. I remember what it's like to struggle in difficult classes and subjects, so I know the importance of having a teacher who can render complex ideas and concepts intelligible for those who don't just intuitively 'get it' right away; in my experience, it's been the 'intuitive' learners who make the worst teachers because they have no concept of what it's like to not understand, just like runners with natural talent make the worst coaches because they have no idea what it's like not to have natural talent and have to train from the bottom up, so what ends up happening in both situations is that those with natural talents get all of the attention while those who need help learning and training are left to try to improve on their own. That's not how Mrs. Stone did it, it's not how Professor Stocking has ever done it, so I have always tried my absolute best to follow their example and teach everyone to improve where they are in the process of learning and understanding.