Mrs. Abby Whittington

I am excited to join Trailside Middle School where I hope to encourage and model that learning can be fun, but most importantly that everyone can learn! I thoroughly enjoy mixing technology with education to create an environment where students feel safe to make mistakes and enjoy learning.

My husband and I grew up in Central Indiana, but relocated to the greater New York City area about two years ago for his career, and now are settling in to Ashburn. We have two Australian Shepherd dogs, Odie and Marty Mae, who keep us pretty busy with all their energy. We all are looking forward to the larger green spaces Ashburn has to offer.

I’ve always been a teamplayer and considered by friends and family to be a helper. I get great enjoyment from assisting others, which is how my path to becoming a teacher started. In high school I organized study groups for friends and tutored fellow classmates, but decided not to pursue a career in education because I was interested in nursing, specifically emergency medicine.

I graduated from Anderson University with a degree in mass communications with an emphasis in public relations and nonprofit leadership. After college, I worked for Roche Diagnostics as an Accu-Chek Customer Care Associate where I called our clients to check on Accu-Chek products and discuss their diabetes plan with an emphasis on helping to educate them on healthy habits. I thoroughly enjoyed this job because I was able to speak with clients from all over the United States, but unfortunately the program was dissolved and I started look for other employment.

After feeling unfulfilled working in book publishing and sales and use taxes, I decided to pursue a career in education so I earned my Indiana teaching license in life sciences and English as a New Language. I started teaching at an alternative high school for students who struggled with drug and/or alcohol addiction, teen pregnancy, or severe attendance issues. The focus of my two years at Options Charter School was on relationship building, which is vital in ensuring learning can occur. I believe in open and constant communication between students, parents, and myself because we are a team. Together, we can achieve more!

Before moving to the NYC area, I taught 7th and 8th grade science in my hometown at Pendleton Heights Middle School for three years. While teaching I also participated in extracurricular activities leading Fellowship for Christian Athletes and Best Buddies. For the past few months I worked as a Teacher Programs Developer as part of a United States Department of Education grant between Liberty Science Center and Rutgers University-Newark to train preservice secondary teachers. I encouraged interns to incorporate more engaging and technology-rich activities in their curriculum. My most recent accomplishments as an educator have been to earn my Google Educator Level 1 and 2 certifications, and I am excited to see how this can create a more interactive and personalized learning environment for our science students.