My name is Stephanie Ferguson (formerly Nugent, née Kepner), and I am the Adolescence Editor at BellaOnline. I’ve spent the last 20 years working with adolescents, their parents and their teachers. After earning my B.S. in secondary English education from Millersville University of Pennsylvania, I spent the first 10 years of my career teaching in middle school and secondary school general education and gifted education classrooms in both public and parochial school settings in Pennsylvania and Louisiana. After earning my M.Ed. from Southeastern Louisiana University and my Ph.D. from The University of Southern Mississippi, I spent the next 10 years working with pre-service and in-service teachers both face-to-face and online at various colleges and universities across the country.

I’ve recently been blessed with finding a position that was tailor-made for me. In 2007, I became the Director of the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted at Mary Baldwin College (see http://www.mbc.edu/peg) in Staunton, Virginia, where I also teach Adolescent Psychology. In addition to my career, which centers on working with adolescents and their families in various capacities, I am also the step-mom of two adolescent sons. So, you might say that Adolescence is a thread that is woven deep within the fabric of my life.

I am married to the love of my life, Bruce, who is a military police officer and an avid motorcyclist. Along with our sons, we share our home with three cats: Maneki-Neko, Joss, and Jain. In my spare time I enjoy riding my motorcycle (OK…it’s really a scooter on steroids – a 2007 Bergman 650 Executive), reading, writing the next great young adult (YA) novel, knitting, cross stitch, and doing calligraphy.

It is my goal to provide you with information and resources related to the joys, frustrations, and issues that inevitably surround and permeate life with adolescents. If you have an idea for an article or a pressing concern/issue that you’d like to have addressed, let me know. Your feedback is very important to me; so, visit the site often and feel free to email me with your thoughts and suggestions, and please do visit our forum.

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