My Story

Looking at blank sheet of ice is like looking at a blank sheet of paper; it’s intimidating. You mark it up, make mistakes and often hold back. It takes courage to put yourself out there and whether using blade or pen, it’s risky.

Ten years of competitive figure skating sent me traveling throughout New England while competing to the music of Liszt, Bizet and Sibelius. At the time, I was an unconventional high school student.  Six hours each day on the ice, including weekends at The Skating Club of Boston, carved out my life and taught me resilience while giving me gifts I wouldn’t appreciate until many years later.  Before graduating from Barnstable High School on Cape Cod and heading to Boston College for my BA and then Sarah Lawrence College for my Master's Degree, I was asked to be the guest skater at The University of Vermont’s Winter Carnival. It was then, at the end of my skating career, that I discovered something. Of course, it was something I had known all along. I had to be willing to put myself on my deepest edge, about to fall, in order to truly skate to my ability. Although my coaches had reminded me over and over not to hold back, it took time to learn to trust. I find myself saying similar things to my students as I help them find their voice, their edge and their story.

My degrees in education and health advocacy led me to a career as a Patient Representative where much of my work required observing and listening to patients, families and staff in a highly stressful environment.  Helping people identify and communicate their concerns was a hallmark of my work, while clear and sensitive communication in writing to staff and administrators was critical to the successful resolution of conflicts.  This work took time, careful thought and authenticity in order to ensure that each patient's voice was heard, understood and respected. Supporting patients in the telling of their story made it possible to make positive changes within the institution while improving the quality of the patient’s stay and the speed of their recovery.  

After moving to Vermont with my husband in 1992, I continued to work in health advocacy as a consultant for Central Vermont Hospital and the Immediate Health Care Center. Later, while raising three children, I volunteered in multiple capacities including serving as Chair of Fundraising for The Trinity Scholars Program and from 2008 - 2015, I chaperoned high school students on an annual Habitat for Humanity trip to West Virginia. During this time, I served as an editor of Patient Informed Consents for the Human Subjects Committee at the University of Vermont Medical Center and later, in 2019 I returned to work at UVMMC as a patient and family advocate.

While my professional and volunteer experiences have provided me with a skill set conducive to essay writing, it is the insight I’ve gleaned as a parent and essay coach that has allowed the discovery of a unique process. It is one that encourages each student to find their own voice and to use it to tell a story that illuminates their personality and how they think. Since 2011, I have been working with students who, like us all, are finding and adding to their own stories.

I am as passionate about essay writing as I am about my career in advocacy and my years as a competitive figure skater.  Each blank piece of paper reminds me of a new opportunity to communicate a story and to be creative in its telling. For me, ice has become paper and I am proud of and inspired by each and every one of my students who is willing to step onto the page and into the spotlight.