Background & Professional

My endorsement is in Health & Fitness. I prefer to teach elementary or middle school. I am passionate about teaching health education to youth through physical activity and sports. My interest began as a young boy immigrating to the United States from South Africa. Soccer provided an opportunity for me to socialize in a new culture, and eventually led to scholarships at Seattle University.

During my graduate studies, the seed for my future fascination with Health Education grew when I took Gary Wright’s Health Promotion course, one of the most dedicated teachers I have ever had. He sparked my interest in Health Education. I was involved in a project that required me to do assessments on youth populations based on self-reported health behavior data and to propose a health promotion program that would implement disease prevention. Throughout the research, I mentored young people and felt like I made a difference in their lives. From then on, I became interested in pursuing a field where I could make a difference in young people’s lives through Health Education.

 My goal as a PE teacher is to inspire my students so they go home and tell their families about what they did in Physical Education. For me there is no better highlight to see my students achieve a goal for the first time and be proud of themselves. I would open classroom initiatives, collaborate with other teachers and I would give parents the same access to my classes. I would include them in their child’s learning to start a conversation at home. My thinking is that it would benefit their child physically and emotionally. It would like to knock down any barriers and make my teaching transparent.