Happy Halloween!

I was one of those kids.

The one who raised her hand just as the bell rang to remind the teacher he didn't collect our homework. The one who stayed so late after school working on the high school newspaper that the janitors came in and asked me to leave because it was 10:30 and they wanted to go home.

Yes, I was one of those kids who, at the lunch table, would go over my math homework with my friend Mike because algebra and geometry is not my forte. While he checked my math, I'd read through his English papers for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes.

Now that I think of it, maybe, I was destined to be the Education writer here at the Independent.

Growing up, I was one of those nerdy kids who got bummed out on snow days because I wouldn't get to turn in my homework or take that test I had studied so hard for the night before. I was the kid who walked through the GlenOak hallways with my nose pressed into the spine of book, trying to finish just one more chapter before the start of my next class.

Even now, I can't get enough of books. And so, I had to make sure that I tripped my hat to one of this generation's greatest authors, Ms. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series.

Because I love to read as much as I love to write, I am hoping that, in addition to keeping you all up-to-date about what's going on in your children's classroom and school buildings that we connected, here about arts and cultural events and, yes, share book suggestions and book reviews.

I'm looking forward to using this as a fun and creative place to share ideas and stories about what happening with our Western Stark County schools, museums and libraries.

And so, here's to all my fellow bookworms and homework nerds. This blog is for you.