M.A., Catholic School Administration, Loyola Marymount University.

Paula is delighted to join the faculty of Ascension Academy this year. This will mark her 32nd year as a teacher/administrator. Her background is in Catholic Education. Paula has taught and/or served as principal at St. Vincent de Paul school in Pampa, Holy Cross Catholic Academy, St. Mary’s Cathedral and St. Joseph schools in Amarillo, St. Mark and Immaculate Heart of Mary schools in Los Angeles, CA and St Anthony’s in Hereford. 

Her educational background is in Theatre Arts, Psychology, Elementary all-subject, and Mathematics.

In her free time, Paula is a PATH certified therapeutic riding instructor at 7 Star Therapeutic Riding Center. She is passionate about horses and children, and when God combines the two, miracles happen.

Paula has an ADA trained service dog in her classroom this year ans says, "He is with me at all times and does not interact with the students. His name is Mario and he is a standard poodle. I instruct all the students how to “speak” to him with hand signals and to remain calm and relatively quiet. Mario stays beside or under my teacher’s desk while I am in the classroom. His former owner/companion was a student of mine at St. Joseph. He has been a part of a classroom environment for 3 years around 3rd - 5th grade students, so he is accustomed to noise and children’s movement." Paula adds that should you have any questions or concerns about the presence of the dog within the classroom, you should not hesitate to speak to her and/or meet Mario.

Paula proclaims that she is an avid Star Trek TNG nerd. She says, "For those of that certain generation, I am team Picard/Crusher. My room will be decorated with STNG themed memorabilia and autographed posters as I collect them. We will be assembling models of starships as we calculate equations of scale, time, and space. Live Long and Prosper".

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Courses: 6th Math, 7th & 8th Pre-Algebra