Born and raised in the city of CHICAGO, I was very fortunate to have a wonderful childhood.  My parents were very supportive and encouraging.  I attended Von Steuben High School on the north side of Chicago and graduated from there in the early seventies.  I did well academically and also enjoyed playing varsity baseball for the Panthers.  After graduation I attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana (GO ILLINI!).  It was here at the U if I that I met my future wife, Pat.  We married before I finished college and started in graduate school.  I majored in Psychology but did not know that I wanted to work in a school setting until I pursued my masters degree from Marquette University.  As a result, I had to go back to school to get my teaching degree.

My student teaching occurred at Whitney Young Magnet High School in Chicago - a great place to be . . . a real diverse group of motivated students to teach.  My first paid teaching job was at Thompson Middle School in St. Charles, Illinois.  Here I taught seventh grade mathematics for five years.  When a vacancy in the guidance department finally opened I was able to pursue my real passion . . .getting to work as a guidance counselor.

I was able to work on developing my counseling skills over the next 8 years at Thompson Middle School.  It was an outstanding environment to work within - great students and understanding/motivated colleagues.  In 1991 when an opening in the guidance department at the high school (currently named St. Charles East High School) appeared I figured it was time for a change and moved to the high school guidance scene.  I found that it was very healthy for me to take on a new challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed the next ten years of my professional life as a secondary guidance counselor.  I was part of a great staff of counselors and teachers and was very proud of our efforts to enrich the lives of our students and to prepare them for life after high school.  As part of my tenure at St. Charles High School I took on the added responsibilities as the Guidance Department Coordinator - helping organize and supervise the staff.

Seven years ago I took the chance of leaving the St.Charles school system - a place where I was very comfortable and deeply established within the community of students, parents and teachers.  I had heard great things about the Guidance Department at Schaumburg High School (led by Tony Capalbo) - which happens to be in my current home town.  Never afraid of change, I have found a new home at Schaumburg High.  The students are great to work with.  I have also found the parents to be very supportive of our efforts.  My new colleagues are very hard working and dedicated towards helping students and my commute is only 5 minutes!

Being a high school guidance counselor is extremely important to me.  It gives me the opportunity to work with adolescents.  Ever since I first determined my career path back at Marquette University, I have found that I love coming to work and find it very rewarding to be helpful to others.  I would like to be able to share my experience & knowledge with you at SHS.  My goal is to help ALL of my student find success in their futures.  I believe in my students and want to be both a resource (of helpful information) and an advocate for all of my students.

Outside of education, I have a wonderful family.  Pat and I have been married for going on 30 years and we have three great children - who are fun to be around and challenge us daily.  My eldest graduated from Marquette University with a Masters degree in Bilingual Speech Pathology.  My middle child is currently attending UIC majoring in psychology and my youngest is a junior in high school.  Pat and I enjoy following all of our children activities (over the years that has included: dance, gymnastics, softball, soccer, baseball, basketball and cross country).  We also are dog lovers - we currently have TWO whippets at home and get frequent visits from our daughter's Italian greyhound.