A very smart person once told me, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plan.” I found this somewhat comical at the time because I had no clue what my plan was so I figured I’d just be laughing right along with Him! I also took comfort in this, knowing that God would lead me in the direction that was best for me and my life. With the help and loving support of my parents, I was able to play basketball all around the country and land an academic and athletic scholarship to Transylvania University, where I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Due to my weird interest in the human mind, I entered the Clinical Psychology doctorate program at Spalding University and began trying to figure out exactly what God had planned for me. While working night shift at Home of the Innocents, coaching basketball at Assumption and attending grad school during the day, I also planned a wedding and married my husband in 2009. I thought I could do it all! That is, until I interned at Kentucky State Reformatory in 2010. I learned very quickly that doing psych testing on inmates was NOT the plan God had for me, and if it was, He was sure testing me!
I later interned doing psycho-educational testing for the Archdiocese of Louisville and realized I had found the place where I was supposed to be. After doing testing, I did a year-long therapy internship at St. Margaret Mary where I fell back in love with the Catholic school system I grew up in! I graduated with my Masters in Clinical Psychology in 2011 and felt like God was telling me I needed a break from my own education in the doctorate program to explore the newfound love of working with children in a school setting. I was hired at St. Aloysius in the summer of 2011 and found out two weeks later that my husband and I would be expecting our first baby! Blessings were all around us! This is now my 13th year at St. Aloysius and my husband and I have been blessed with three beautiful daughters, Annabelle, Gracie, and Nora, who all attend school here. The experience of getting to this amazing place in my life and in my career was definitely guided by God and I could not be more thrilled with the journey I have been on thus far and where it has led me.
As parishioners of St. Aloysius, my husband and I could not have asked for a better environment for me to work in and for us to raise our family in. My work enriches my life daily and I enjoy every minute I get to spend making a child’s day a little brighter. I have always been a believer that “God doesn’t give us more than we can handle,” but I also know that God puts people in our lives that help make burdens a little lighter. I strive every day to be one of those people in the lives of the children we serve. My hope for all who enter this place is for them to leave with a little piece of the spirit that lives within these walls; a piece of a smile passing them in the hallway, the echo of a child laughing on the playground and the loving grace that shines on us from above. St. Aloysius is a place where the extraordinary in us all shines through our service to each other and the Lord, and I am blessed for each day I am a part of this community.