Biography

I was Born in 1978 in Clarkston, Washington. I was raised in Lewiston, Idaho, the second of three children. Although I know of other "middle children" who have had difficulty in that position and role, having found my niche and established my own identity, there is no other place I would rather have been. Being raised in a close nuclear family has affected much of who I am. In elementary school, there were about 15 of us at my elementary school, Camelot who were in the same class for first through sixth grades. Yes, I can still sing the "Bumble Bee" song and suspect my fellow classmates can too. I started playing summer little league baseball at about age 10 and still greatly enjoy baseball to this day. My love for the political process began at about the same time; the first election I distinctly remember is the 1988 presidential election and I enjoyed watching the conventions on television. I also participated in 4-H for a number of years taking subjects as diverse as wood-working and leather-craft to outdoor cooking and cake decorating. In fifth grade, I started playing trumpet in the band. Then I attended seventh through ninth grades at Sacajawea Junior High. While there, I participated in basketball, track, cross-country, baseball, MathCounts, and Knowledge Bowl. I also switched from playing trumpet to tuba. Next, I attended high school at Lewiston Hight School. While there, I participated in track, cross country, band, and some political clubs. Of particular note is Junior Statesman of America.

In the summer after my senior year of high school, I had the privilege of attending a Rotary Youth leadership Awards Camp sponsored by Rotary International. It was a formative event in my life where I was thrown into a group of complete strangers and had the opportunity to swim on my own. In the fall of 1997, I began attending the University of Idaho pursuing a degree in electrical engineering. I also pursued a minor in political science for a while, but opted not to complete that as I had taken the courses that most interested me and it likely would have required I delay graduation another semester. As it was, I took nine semesters to complete my degree requirements because of the time I made for involvement in student government where I served in several different capacities.

Following my undergraduate work, I attended law school at the University of Idaho College of Law. During my second summer, I clerked for U.S. Sen. Larry Craig working on issues related to his service on the Judiciary Committee. During my last semester of law school, I worked in Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's office with his attorney. Following graduation and passing the Bar exam, I clerked for Hon. Alan Lance, Sr. at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims. I worked as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examining database patent applications for two and a half years followed by a year as an information systems analyst at Clearwater Paper Corporation in Lewiston, ID. I recently passed the Patent Bar exam and formal admission to the Patent Bar as a Patent Attorney is pending