There’s a new face on the third floor in the English department this year! Ms. Lee Lopez  comes to Tantasqua after teaching at Bay Path for 11 years, with a variety of classes, including Spanish! She has taught both middle school English, high school English, and foreign language courses throughout her time as an educator,

With her extensive background in teaching, Lopez’s educational background makes perfect sense. Receiving a bachelor’s degree in English from Boston College along with a minor in Women’s Studies, she then went on to Columbia University Teachers College – NYC, where she earned a master’s degree in secondary English education. From there, Lopez went on to Fitchburg University in Massachusetts to earn her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) in Administrative Leadership.

When she’s not in the classroom, Lopez enjoys coaching volleyball, and has started teams at a few different schools in her time, coaching on and off since she first began to teach.

With her go-to motto for teaching and working with people as “Be inspirational,” Lopez herself is quite the inspiration when it comes to her background. As an SEI (Sheltered English Immersion) kid herself, Lopez is the first person in her family to earn a college degree, as her parents are Cuban immigrants who came to America in the 1960s, fleeing the Castro regime. Her parents met in Miami, and her first language was Spanish; in fact, Lopez didn’t learn to speak English until kindergarten.

Her goal is to help people wherever and however she can, and she has always enjoyed working with young people while also reading fantastic literature. Lopez’s outlook on her chosen career path and her desire to work with others can be summed up by her reflection that “human stories connect us all.”

When she’s not in the classroom or working with others, Lopez loved to travel. That said, she’s even taken students overseas on a few student tours. Her favorite places so far to visit are Barcelona, Italy and Greece, which she visited this past summer again with her identical twin daughters who are currently sophomores at Providence College.

Lopez has been loving her time at Tantasqua so far and is both happy and excited to be a Warrior! She’s excited to help make the volleyball team stronger and to hopefully inspire young people to go above and beyond.