I currently serve as the 11th and 12th grade ELA teacher and Director of Speech & Debate at West Tallahatchie High School in Webb, MS. In this capacity, I help foster a love of civil and civic discourse among high school students. I also serve as a member of the MHSAA Speech & Debate Coordinating Committee in the Magnolia District of the National Speech and Debate Association. My current passions focus on data and education policy, especially as it pertains to Title I schools in the Mississippi Delta. I served as a 2022 Teach for America corps member and will be serving as a Policy Fellow with Teach Plus Mississippi during the 2024-25 AY. I am also affiliated with the Mississippi Delta Film Academy - a two week summer program hosted at the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, MS that teaches high school students to engage socio-political issues in the community through documentary filmmaking. Most recently, I recieved my MA from the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies in the fields of International Relations and Comparative Politics. Originally admitted to the PhD program, I passed my comprehensive exams in IR and CP before leaving the program early to pursue a career in public education. As a PhD student, I served as a Research Assistant to Dr. Tricia Olsen's Corporations and Human Rights Database (CHRD) Project, and a Research Assistant to Dr. Marie Berry and Dr. Milli Lake's (LSE) Women's Rights After War (WRAW) Project. I also served as a Production Editor for the Journal of Global Security Studies (JoGSS) published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Studies Association. Prior, I worked for Legal Aid of Arkansas where I represented indigent clients in domestic violence cases. I earned my JD from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 2013, where I served as Production Editor for the Journal of Islamic Law & Culture and a Research Assistant to Professor Uche Ewelukwa, S.J.D. I graduated summa cum laude from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2008 with a BA in Political Science. I currently live in Clarksdale, Mississippi with my rescue pitbull Rudy. When not teaching, coaching debate, or analyzing education policy, I enjoy running marathons and gardening.