Amanda wanted to be a teacher from a young age and moved from the small, rural town where she grew up to the big city to follow that dream. What she didn’t expect was for her interest in teaching to shift from traditional classroom teaching to one focused more on problem-based learning, socio-emotional development, and life skills after volunteering with inner-city youth and working in group homes during her university years.

After graduating in 2011, she took her first teaching contract in a remote First Nations Cree community on the James Bay coast, which inspired a love for outdoor and alternative education. She later moved near Val-d’Or, Quebec to work with an Algonquin community for two years, then taught in an Ojibway community near her home town for a year, before pursuing curriculum content development for online learning and adult education for a few years.

Today, Amanda is certified for and has experience in junior, intermediate, senior, and adult education, special education, alternative education, outdoor education, and online learning and development. The family computer business she grew up with still keeps her busy from time to time, as does new building adventures during the summer with her parents. During her free time, she is an avid gamer, reader, and does competitive Brazilian Jujitsu in Huron county.