I spent a decade in classrooms before I ran my first esports program, and I've never really left. I taught social studies and coordinated K-12 curriculum across the United States and Mexico, worked as an IB and AP instructor, and built the International Hub for the C3 Curriculum Framework with the National Council for the Social Studies.
Everything I build in esports rests on that foundation. Inquiry-based learning, standards with room to fail safely, assessment that measures growth: the same tools whether the subject is economics or a six-stage tournament run. It's also why my thesis about esports is an educator's thesis. The field's next generation of coaches and program directors has to be deliberately trained, and schools are where that happens.
A Double Duke from James Madison University (BA '13, MAT '14), born in Charlottesville.
Social studies' central role is preparing students for the responsibility of citizenship. Taught as inquiry, it gives students the skills to ask real questions across disciplines, analyze public problems, weigh a range of sources, construct claims and arguments, and take informed action in their communities.
The traditional classroom rewards memorizing "Googleable" narratives, facts, and statistics. Explicitly teaching problem-solving through inquiry breaks from that, and instead redefines social studies as a driver of change in education.
I began working with the Inquiry Design Model in 2017 and 2018 as an alternative to content-based practice. With it, colleagues and I reenvisioned social studies at the American School Foundation of Monterrey and spearheaded the creation of the C3 International Hub at C3Teachers.org.
Planned, taught, and assessed IB Economics, AP Economics, MYP U.S. History, and American Government. As a teacher-leader I organized a professional learning community on standards-based and mastery learning, and led professional development on Hyperdocs, Google Classroom, and more.
◆Concurrently founded and coached the school's esports program: back-to-back Overwatch state championships (2021, 2022).
Taught four sections of 6th-grade social studies and one section of 6th-grade English, aligned to the C3 Curriculum Framework and the Common Core. As Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator, I advocated for the department, developed K-12 curriculum and alignment, and designed and led professional development.
◆Founded the school's first esports program (2016).
Taught 7th-grade English and English Intensive for new English learners.
Planned, taught, and assessed 12th-grade U.S. Government.
Planned, taught, and assessed 7th-grade American History.
- Master of Arts in Teaching, Secondary Education
James Madison University · 2014 - Bachelor of Arts in History, Interdisciplinary Social Science & Secondary Education
James Madison University · 2013
- Ohio Social Studies, Professional (Adolescence to Young Adult, grades 7 to 12)
- Virginia Social Studies (grades 6 to 12)
- Highly Qualified Teacher; experience from late-elementary through adult learners
Sample lessons, unit plans, references, and my full CV are available on request. I'm glad to talk through curriculum design, inquiry-based social studies, or how a classroom practice becomes an esports program.