A native Floridian, Ms. West was born in Orlando, Florida. She graduated with a B.S. from Florida State University, Republic of Panama and a master’s in special education from Armstrong University, Savannah, Georgia. She has been a teacher for 27 years and has taught every grade from Kindergarten to College. She currently works for Somerset Jefferson, a K-12 Charter school in Monticello, Florida. She has been married for 36 years and has two sons and a daughter-in-law.