After graduating from San Diego State University with a B.A. in Spanish, Michele launched her teaching career as a bilingual teacher in Watsonville, California, for two years before moving to the Santa Cruz Mountains, where she taught first grade for 12 years. She also served as a member of the school’s leadership team and as a liaison to bilingual families. Offered the opportunity to return to school, Michele attended St. Mary’s graduate program and became a certificated Reading Recovery teacher. More recently, she completed her Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction: Reading with an Emphasis in Elementary Education.

Michele returned to her hometown of Ojai in 2007 to work as a Spanish, Learning Skills, and ESL teacher at the Upper Campus. In 2012, she returned to the elementary classroom as a fifth grade teacher and Elementary Division Coordinator. Michele lives at the Upper Campus with her husband, Craig, and their two boys, Connor and Gavin, both graduates of both campuses who are now in college. Connor is attending Clarke University in Iowa and Gavin is attending the University of Alabama. When she is not trying to keep up with the sports talk in the house, she loves to garden, cook, and ride horses.