Growing up near Cedar Rapids, Iowa with a farmer for a father, Olivia understands rural living. Her family grew corn, soybeans, oats and raised cattle, pigs, sheep and chickens. When Olivia was in the third grade, her parents divorced. She has one younger brother and six step siblings. Her dad is still farming and her mom re-married and started a carpet cleaning business. After graduating high school in 2000, Olivia attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa to study Vocal Performance and Costume Design. When 911 shook the United States, Olivia was drawn to move to New york to lend a helping hand via Red Cross. After such a powerful experience, she chose to work with Americorps in NYC for a year, tutoring and running an after school girl's group for high-risk families. Returning to Hunter College in NYC, Olivia switched majors to Political Science and graduated with her BA. She also minored in History. When school ended, Olivia decided it best to conquer a fear she held- She traveled alone to Europe to backpack for the entire summer and visit the Czech Republic, and a small, remote village where her family had come from. Olivia smiles broadly as she describes the trip as "Amazing." Olivia met numerous friendly people and "saw so much art and architecture that she fell in love with." Upon her return, she was offered a position at Hunter College as an Administrative Asst. for the Hunter Senate- the governance body of the college. After a year, she decided to move to London. Her now husband offered to buy her a book to help with the process. As they discussed her possible move, they fell in love! Together they moved to Boston and dated five years before marrying. While in Boston, Olivia went back to school to get her Master's degree and become a teacher. She ended up getting dual Master's degrees in Special Ed. and Elementary Ed. In April 2014, her husband, Dan Squires drove with her and their cats! across the country where Olivia met with 9 different school districts to see just where she wanted to work. The long story short is, she fell in love with Corbett and the staff -and they with her. Olivia now teaches grades 3,4,5 where students with special needs are blended into the classroom. In her free time, she is excited to create beauty in a new stained glass studio in her basement, and she is learning how to better play her accordian!
