Occupation: I am a school guidance counselor for Hill and Plain Elementary School in New Milford, and I love it. I’m also a Eucharistic minister at St Rose, and I teach second grade religious education, their communion year, and I’m involved with the youth group. I’m involved with kids all the time, so I guess that I just love kids.

Family: I’ve been married for 22 years to Mike. We have Christina, 17, a senior at Newtown High School, Stephanie, 15, a sophomore, and Nathan just turned 9 years old on February 7.

Pets: We have a German shorthair, a bird dog, named Luke. He and my husband hunt.

How long have you lived in Newtown? We have been here since 1994, for 14 years.

What do you like to do in your free time? All of my kids play sports — hockey, softball, whatever — so our time is really consumed with that. When we’re not watching sports, I like to go to exercise at Sportsplex and I like to scrapbook. I like just hanging out with my friends and family, and I read.

What book have you read most recently? A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant is also one of my favorite books and I loved Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. I like historical fiction.

Do you have a favorite travel destination? My family lives in California and Mike’s is in the Midwest, so we try to get together with family somewhere. We don’t have a favorite “spot.” Just anywhere we can all be together.

What is the best thing about Newtown? The small town feel. I know Newtown is growing, but you can still go to the grocery store or church and see someone you know. And I love the ruralness of the town. You can still drive around and see open space, although we are losing some of that.

Who do you most admire? I admire my parents. They came here from Nicaragua and built a life for themselves, learned English, worked very hard. They’re very generous with their time toward family. My dad helps Mike with projects when they visit and my mom is always there for me. I admire their fortitude. They are the American dream.

Do you have a personal philosophy? The Golden Rule: Love your neighbor as yourself. And Mother Teresa said, “It’s not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters.” You have to find the good in everybody.

Do you have a guilty pleasure? Sleeping in. That’s a guilty pleasure for me. I don’t mean until 10 o’clock, but even until 8:30 is great.