This year, Stuart received a new edition to the community: Ms. Elizabeth McDonald. This is Ms. McDonald’s 10th year teaching, and at Stuart, she is currently teaching biology, marine biology, AP biology, and AP environmental science.
Ms. McDonald’s history with science is impressive. She has her master’s degree in marine biology, and she has also published several papers about marine biology. Having just moved to the area of New Jersey from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she is very excited to be a part of New Jersey’s “landscape and community.” Ms. McDonald is also thrilled to be teaching high school after multiple years of teaching elementary school.
While Ms. McDonald interviewed at many schools, she especially loved Stuart for various reasons. She really enjoyed the environment and that “everyone was nice and friendly.” Apart from the environment, she also liked the new ones and twos program being offered in the lower school this year; it was a major reason for coming to Stuart, as she has a one-year-old daughter. This made her even more excited to join the Stuart community.
Though Ms. McDonald has been teaching for awhile, she did not always think it was going to be her career. She went to school to study marine biology and kept leveling up her education degrees. She planned on getting her PhD, but as she was completing her masters, she realized that the higher she went in education, the more time she was sitting behind a computer doing statistics and data analysis. Although she thought this was cool, her favorite part of science was talking to people, so she pivoted. She added a science education concentration to her masters and taught high school after that. During her time teaching, she also worked at a science museum and ran the education programs there part-time. Ms. McDonald found this experience to be fun, helpful, and creative, which changed her perspective on her education career.
Ms. McDonald loves teaching in general, but she especially loves the “aha moment when students figure something out on their own.” Her goal in teaching is to help students make their own connections and fully understand the topic themselves. Her favorite science is biology, as she is extremely fascinated with the natural world and marine biology. If she was not teaching biology and other sciences, she would have continued her education and been out in the field focusing on the natural sciences or marine biology.
Other than science, Ms. McDonald has many interests outside of school, including horseback riding. She has done horseback riding for many years and owns two horses. Not only does Ms. McDonald ride horses, but she also taught horseback riding in Pittsburgh. She has hopes of continuing this here in New Jersey. Other than her two horses, Ms. McDonald owns a cat who is best friends with her one-year-old. Another hobby of hers is painting, not because she is good at it, but because she likes to create things.
Overall, Ms. McDonald is a great addition to the Sacred Heart Community. Stuart is very excited to have her as our newest member of the STEM department, hopefully for many years to come.
