Samantha Nielsen originally began teaching in the Central Valley and came to live in the Capitola area in 2008. She has been a special education teacher with Scotts Valley Unified for three years and she currently teaches the mild/moderate special day class at Brook Knoll. Samantha has three children: Colin is 17 and Christian is 18. Both boys are at Soquel High School. Her daughter Sydney is in her senior year at CSUMB. When Samantha is not teaching, she enjoys hiking and she tries to get in a five mile walk daily. She also loves live music, movies, books and spending time on, in or next to the ocean.