Lisa’s Story
Lisa Sitek grew up in North Carolina and spent many summers working as a camp counselor at Presbyterian Point. Before becoming a classroom teacher, Lisa helped children explore the outdoors and use their imaginations. Lisa earned a BS in biology from Davidson College in 1994, a BS in science education from North Carolina State University in 1996, and an MST in physical sciences from the University of Vermont in 2002.
Although Lisa had often thought of becoming a teacher, she did not originally pursue teaching in college. She began her teaching career in 1996 and taught in Springfield, Vermont and Wendell, North Carolina before deciding to leave teaching in 1999. It was while doing graduate work that Lisa realized she enjoyed teaching undergraduate labs and recitations much more than doing research. Lisa made the decision to return to teaching and applied to be part of the first Knowles cohort. “Knowles treats Fellows as professionals. Without this opportunity to work with other professional teachers and to participate in high quality professional development, I probably would not have stayed in teaching.”
A 2007 Knowles alumna, Lisa has taught physics at Burlington High School in Burlington, Vermont since 2002. She also teaches introductory chemistry to multilingual learners, serves as the science department’s Lead Teacher, and is a co-advisor for the National Honor Society.