Originally from Kansas City, Kansas, Danielle has been part of the Bay Area community since 1998. She earned her BS in Sociology from Northwestern University and her MA in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She teaches because she genuinely enjoys partnering with students as they make sense of new ideas and grow in confidence and independence. In her classroom, she creates a thinking-centered environment where students collaborate, reason through problems, and build deep mathematical understanding that leads to fluency. She especially values the palpable sense of joy at O’Dowd, reflected in the daily interactions and strong community that connect students and faculty alike.