Highlands Basketball team for the Summer Slam event. Team pictured in blue jerseys.

About Me

 
Hello!
 
I am Derrick and I am an English language development teacher with Highlands Community Charter School.  It is has been an honor and privilege to be a part of the wonderful Highlands family for 5 years.
 
I have been an educator for over 20 years, and most of those years have been in adult education.  I love teaching adult education partially because it hits home!  My amazing wife, Anca, came from Romania to the United States when she was 18 years old.  Also, my great-grandparents were immigrants who moved to the United States as adults.  All of them had to learn English as adult learners.
 
I love my job, and I enjoy teaching and interacting with adult learners from all over the world. Drawing on the diverse cultural backgrounds of all students, we all learn from each other every day.
 
When I am not at school, I have several other things I enjoy doing.  I like watching and analyzing almost all sports. If I was not a teacher, I would probably work in the sports industry.  Also, I enjoy traveling and learning about people from all over the world.  In the future, I hope to do extensive traveling.  Recently, I have rekindled my love for music.  I am not a musician, but I just started to play the guitar and piano again.