About Me

Welcome to Detroit PE!

First of all, I am so happy you clicked on my About Me tab to get a better understanding of who I am and why I started this blog.

Second, I hope you have been enjoying my content so far. Whether you have or haven’t I strongly encourage you to comment your thoughts or leave constructive feedback. I’m constantly striving to be better!

Anyways, Here We Go:

I am a K-8 Physical Education teacher in the Metro Detroit area during the regular school year, and a 9-12 PE teacher in the summer.

Teaching PE has me living my best life. I get to wake up every morning and teach kids how to stay active and healthy through skill development, game and sport! Giving my students the tools to develop healthier lifestyles is so rewarding, that I wanted to share some of the things I teach and even learn through my kids to you all.

My Early Days

I grew up in Westland Michigan, where I developed a love for sports.

I’d play football out in front of our house with the neighborhood boys, my sisters and my dad all summer, or we’d go to the park and play a competitive game of baseball. I would have races down my block with my dad always trying to beat him, or we’d play basketball on our homemade court in the backyard.

I was fast, and I was athletic so when I got to 5th grade I started playing basketball. From there I joined cross country (I hated it) and then track.

Physical Education was my favorite subject in school, and I realized I needed to have a career that taught movement.

College Years

Since I loved sports and movement so much, I decided I wanted to become a personal trainer.

In 2008 I graduated from the National Personal Training Institute as a Certified Personal Trainer and group fitness instructor.

My days were spent working various gyms with clients and aerobic classes for a long time before I realized I wanted to teach physical health and activity to more people. Finally, I decided I wanted my bachelors degree.

Saginaw Valley State University was my school of choice to attend, where I originally studied Exercise Science. I loved it, but then tragedy struck my family.

One summer while I was home at my parents house on break, I found out my dad was killed in a motorcycle accident. Our family of five (my dad, mom, two sisters and myself) suddenly became a family of four.

Devestation doesn’t even begin to touch on the pain we all felt. But life must go on right?

My Downward Spiral

I went back to Saginaw Valley State University that fall, and quickly realized I could not concentrate. It was like an out of body experience where you are physically going through the motions, but you can’t feel anything.

My grades were slipping and I was constantly coming home on the weekends to be with my family.

A few months into school, I decided to withdraw from school all together to be around the comfort of my hometown friends and family.

Not to mention we had to attend court every month or so, to see if the person who ran a stop sign hitting my dad would be convicted of negligent homicide. Of course I wanted to be there for that.

Two years went by of me not going to school. In this time I worked as a full time personal trainer, but I knew something was missing.

While all this was going on I had just turned 22. Partying was high on my to-do list, and had the worst diet of pizza rolls and alcohol.

I started gaining weight, and was feeling more miserable than I had ever felt in my entire life. Change had to be made.

Going Back to College

Finally…

One day I was laying in bed thinking I needed to make a change. Personal training was great money, but so inconsistent. I knew I wanted that 9-5 stability type job, and my mind kept going to physical education teaching.

This was the day I got my act together, and looked into the PE program at SVSU.

Within a few years I obtained my bachelors degree in Physical Education Teaching.

Once I graduated I immediately moved to Wisconsin to complete my masters degree. I obtained my masters in Physical Education Teaching emphasizing in Adventure/Outdoor Education at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

During this time I was also a Pre K-6 PE teacher in La Crescent, Minnesota which helped me kick start my teaching career.

I was thriving!

Wisconsin Living

Moving out to Wisconsin opened my eyes to a whole new world of physical activity. Since I had gained weight from the downward spiral after my dad died, I knew I needed to change my physical activity mindset for the better.

I wasn’t on sports teams anymore and I could only run the track and bleachers so much until I was bored.

I started hiking and exploring the La Crosse area getting my physical activity in ways where I could connect with my own thoughts and self awareness.

Eventually, I stopped working out because it was routine, and started working out to enjoy the person I was while doing it. The bluffs and beautiful scenery definitely helped.

Once I graduated and finished teaching in Minnesota I moved back to Michigan. This is where I started my current teaching position at a K-8 school right outside of Detroit.

It has been such a great few years. Watching my students grow stronger, more confident, and become successful in all aspects of life.

Looking Forward to the Future

As I was teaching at my current K-8 school, a wonderful opportunity to teach 9-12 summer school at a different location came my way.

I feel so lucky that my PE content can relate to grades K-12, and I have the experiences to back what I say.

After my first year with summer school, I realized I wanted to share with the world what I do. With my background in fitness and PE, I started this blog.

The goal is to get important yet creative ways out to the world to educate them on physical activity and health. You can see the tag line of my home page is “PE isn’t just gym class”. It’s so much more.

I teach and know physical EDUCATION. It’s about living life long healthy lifestyles.