I write about higher education for the Orlando Sentinel -- everything from state tuition hikes and neat projects college students are working on to legislative action and trends affecting colleges and universities nationwide. Some topics that are of particular interest to me are professor quality, hazing rituals, e-learning and campus crime.

I've worked at the Orlando Sentinel a total of about 12 years, covering education for most of that time. In 2005, a colleague and I won several awards for a series we wrote about substitute teachers that prompted Florida lawmakers to increase training and educational requirements for all substitute teachers statewide. In 2011, I won first place in education reporting in the Society of Professional Journalists' Sunshine State Awards for a series I wrote about mold in public schools. Before coming to the Sentinel, I wrote news for the Philadelphia Inquirer and a small newspaper in Central America.

I grew up in Volusia County and graduated from the University of North Florida with a bachelor's degree in communications and a minor in chemistry. I'm the single mom of one spunky fifth grader who attends public school in Deltona.

Watercolor painting, claymation, local politics, Thai food and traveling with my family.