Biography:

Emily Abriola hails from Syracuse, NY - the snowiest city in the USA! She obtained her bachelor's degree in English education from Niagara University, where she also dazzled sports enthusiasts with her less-than-stellar talent as D1 basketball cheerleader. "Go Purple Eagles!" She then attended SUNY Buffalo and received her master's degree in humanities, with concentrations in both theater arts and communications.

After finishing school, Emily realized the New York State job market was over-flooded with unemployed teachers. So she decided to pick up and move to the greener pastures (and among the nicer residents) of Nashville, TN. She has been here 5 years now and she has no plans of ever moving back home!

Emily has 4 years prior experience teaching English and drama in middle Tennessee high schools. She also teaches developmental writing at Volunteer State Community College. In addition to teaching, Emily is also a trained veterinary technician. She still fills in at the animal hospital during school breaks and summers. Her love of animals should come as no surprise....she has 4 cats (Jake, Skatie, Valentine, and Setzer) and a beagle-mix dog, Maeby.

Emily has been actively involved in the live theater and independent film community for many years. She has acted in numerous theatrical productions, as well as several indie films, under her stage name, Emily Steele. Her first self-penned, full-length play is scheduled to go into production sometime next year. Her boyfriend and she have also started their own online production company, Joint Custody Productions. "It's more for tax write-offs than profit," she jokes. "I won't be leaving Sycamore anytime soon!" In addition, Emily writes, performs, and helps in the production of the comedy troupe, Common Sense for Dummys.

Emily is thrilled to be back into teaching and feels blessed to have fallen into such a great school and program. She hopes to be at SHS for many years to come!