Whether she is learning from her students, trying out a job with an internet company or traveling, Jennifer has figured out that life is all about learning! Having gone straight through school to get her BA in Political Science and her teaching credential, Jennifer taught elementary school in Los Angeles Unified and then north of San Francisco. In her five years of teaching, she loved teaching reading the most. Watching Kindergartners learn their letters and then to put those letters together to form words is pure joy. Her students and their families remain an important part of her life even though she is no longer in the classroom. During the summers, Jennifer traveled and volunteered across the globe. Studying birds in the rainforest of Africa and building a preschool in Guatemala are just a couple of the projects with which she became involved. After teaching for five years Jennifer decided to pack it up and travel through South America where she experienced the cultures and landscapes of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and worked on her Spanish (which still needs some work.) Without a set itinerary, she was able to take advantages of all the opportunities which passed her way including teaching in the Galapagos, volunteering on a farm in Ecuador and hiking through the Peruvian Andes. After a short but intense experience developing curriculum and teaching for an internet company in San Francisco, Jen is thrilled to be joining the second semester of the US Trek. She considers it a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn about American History through the best kind of learning, experiential learning. If she could take all of her students with her, she would! When she's not teaching or traveling Jen loves volunteering her time guiding people with disabilities on trips cross country skiing, sea kayaking and white water rafting. She also loves to read, write, and play her guitar and sing.