The Washington, DC area is full of amazing moms. There are working moms, stay-at-home moms, single moms, moms of multiples, foster moms, adoptive moms, etc. We want to highlight some of those moms like Michelle Cullum. Each month we will feature one special mom as the Mom of the Month. Know a fellow amazing local mom here? Nominate them here!
Meet our November Mom of the Month: Michelle Cullum
Michelle Cullum grew up in Middletown, NJ where she attended the Marine Academy of Science & Technology. She was part of the 1998 NJ Meet of Champions winning cross country team, went on to earn All-American status in the 4×800 and was named Wendy’s NJ High School Heisman winner in 2001. She studied Communication at Virginia Tech, graduating in 2005 Cum Laude. Michelle moved to the DC area after college and worked at Clear Channel (now I Heart Radio) for 4 years before getting her Masters in Elementary Education.
Michelle’s first teaching position was in Arlington County in the MIP-A classroom at Taylor Elementary School in 2009. She continued at Taylor as first grade classroom teacher, and after six years, took time off following the birth of her second child in 2015. She returned to teaching after her twins turned one in 2019.
Michelle is now an English Language Specialist at an Elementary School in Alexandria City. She lives in Alexandria with her husband Colin, her six children (ages: 17 mths, 6 (twins), 8, 9, and 11 yrs), two dogs, and two cats. Michelle is the social media coordinator for NOVA Running Club, the group she trains with year-round.
Here is our Q&A with Michelle Cullum:
1. Tell us about your experience working as a Teacher (English as a Second Language).
I have loved working as an English Language teacher. My admin team is very supportive of their staff, the staff is fantastic, and we have such a great group of diverse students. William Ramsay has a large population of English Second language students so I am part of a large team of EL teachers (there are 11 of us). I find working with emergent students incredibly rewarding – some of the students I am working with have never been able to attend school before, so I have an opportunity to be part of the team that introduces them to their school experience!
2. How do you unwind or take time for yourself as a working mom and mom of 6?
My husband and I are both runners, so we spend a lot of our free time training with NOVA Running Club. We first met on the track and continue to value our Track Tuesdays with our team. Training runs are my way to clear my mind after the school day or to connect with my running friends on a long run along Mount Vernon trail on the weekend. If I’m not running, I’m probably sitting with a book. I love trading Book of the Month novels with my friends and family (thrillers are my favorite).
3. What do you want other moms and parents to know about your life?
With such a large family, communication and logistics planning is key. My older five kids have two supportive households, which means the three adults (their dad, my husband and myself) are all coordinating and communicating so that we can get all the kids where they need to be. This was especially important when our youngest daughter (one of the twins) got diagnosed with leukemia the weekend before her first day of kindergarten last year. We worked together to make sure that Sutton always had a parent with her in the hospital while keeping the lives of the other children as routine as possible. Thanks to her incredible team at Children’s National in DC, she is healthy and in the maintenance phase of her chemotherapy. We are now able to resume a lot of the normal activities for all of the children and dive back into our fun and busy life!
Do you know an amazing mom? Nominate a mom of the month here!
Michelle sounds absolutely epic! Incredible xx
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