Discovering how harmony and dissonance enrich each other is at the heart of much of my professional life. Thanks to wonderful mentors, I found my voice in music. As a trumpeter I was electrified when my high school homeroom teacher played a recording of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio for our inattentive advisory. I knew then that I had to study that music. And, I’ve never forgotten my teacher’s courage in sharing his passion to a seemingly disinterested classroom; I learned that you never know who you being you might impact.

My story includes a career in creating, sharing, and promoting the arts as the Performing Arts Head at The Prairie School in Racine, Wisconsin. I fell in love with teaching and especially with the moments in the creative process where things come together for the first time. It’s the ephemeral awakening within each student that inspires me. A few years ago I reinvented myself and now serve my school as the Advisor to the Head of School for Arts and Equity.

I first learned of SEED as a result of a Wisconsin Independent School Educators conference where my job was to transport our speaker, Peggy McIntosh; instead, she metaphorically transported me. Enroute to her presentation, she gave me a commuter tutorial on the SEED Project as we drove. The Prairie School sent me to be trained in SEED 7, where I felt a kind of homecoming, seeing the world in a way I never even knew I was looking for.

While I have had exceptional mentors, my most impactful teachers continue to be my students and peers, past and present, who inspire, challenge, and deepen my belief in the collaborative and life giving power that all our stories possess. SEED reminds me to listen more, to include everyone’s voice, and to trust the process of exchange and exploration. SEED reminds me that transformation of institutions and of myself (!) is possible. I think that when you teach, the story never ends. And the more I teach, learn and live, the more I find SEED at the center of what I do.