My love of nature began in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York, where I spent my childhood and remained to earn my degree in biology and science education at Cornell. 

Jessica, my older daughter, was only four when I began to teach at Lee. She is now beginning her second year as a teacher at nearby Brookhaven Elementary School. I am proud that she is making a contribution to the community through her gift for communicating with children. My younger daughter, Louisa, will be a senior at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she majors in environmental design. I am excited about the chance this will give her to exercise her boundless creativity. My husband, Russ Powell, is a busy lawyer who believes in public education and supports my work by sharing the burdens of keeping house and the joy of supporting our daughters in their endeavors. I love to read and paint and travel with my family.

May all of my students become caretakers of the earth.