Meet Elizabeth Lillis

“Ms. Lillis, here’s that book that you loaned me.” “Ms. Lillis, did you see what’s going on in the Student Center today?” “Ms. Lillis, I heard something on NPR this morning that totally connects with what we’re doing in class.” Walking across campus on any day, Elizabeth Lillis is approached by eager students wanting to share the news of the moment. That eagerness, that vitality is what drew Elizabeth to Milton and, as she says, what keeps her and her colleagues here year after year.

Elizabeth’s primary role at Milton is in the science department where she teaches Biology and Honors Biology—she has loved the subject since she was her students’ age. “Taking biology in high school was the beginning of finding something that I’m passionate to keep learning about,” Elizabeth says. “Taking AP biology was when the spark was really lit. I studied biology in college [at Georgetown], but never thought I was studying to go into medicine or research. I only knew that I loved it.”

Her college advisor encouraged her to work with an outdoor education program in Colorado after graduation where she led nature hikes and learned much about the flora and fauna in a high-altitude research lab. While she loved working with students, she found it difficult repeating instruction with new people all the time. Seeking more of a long-lasting connection with her students, she accepted a teaching position at her own high school. She earned her masters in education and worked at a large public school but didn’t enjoy the sense of anonymity. When she came to Milton in 2006, she found the connection she’d been seeking.

“I love the vibrant, constant learning that happens at Milton,” says Elizabeth, “and that energy is genuine—it doesn’t feel contrived. I’m a learner at heart, which is why I teach, because I have the chance to continue to find out new things. Here the students push me just as hard as my colleagues—they’re always coming up with new ideas, new ways to think about things, new angles on a problem. I like being surprised by that kind of intellectual curiosity.

“I’m also lucky to work in such a wonderful department. Among my science colleagues there’s good-natured teasing and excellent mentorship. We have off-the-cuff conversations not only about science or current events, but about why we’re teaching the way we’re teaching: Is it effective? In what ways is it not? How can we do things differently? Are students buying in? What is our goal as a department? This isn’t something we do once a year for professional development, these are ongoing conversations.”

Elizabeth’s role at Milton extends far beyond the science building. A member of the Outreach Team, she says, gives her the opportunity to make sure that the students who are struggling are not lost. “In the classroom here, I feel like I can be vulnerable. The students’ ideas are so fresh, and there’s always a question that I’m not sure how to answer. In that environment, the students are more willing to be vulnerable with me regarding things they’re worried about, things apart from the classroom—personal or friend issues. I’ve always been grateful to help them work through these problems, and being part of Outreach allows me to be helpful in a coordinated way. A clear course of action exists, and I know that we’re going to be able to help a student or get him or her on the right road.”

Elizabeth also advises six Class II students, coaches the junior varsity girls’ soccer team—a sport she and her husband play recreationally—and teaches a section of the Class I affective education class, Senior Transitions. In her free time she plays soccer, follows men’s college basketball, enjoys reading—especially Science News magazine, listening to NPR (which she says is good fodder for conversation with her students), card-making and paper-crafting, and gardening. (She and her husband are just starting to reap the benefits of the garden they planted last year.)

A constant learner—both in and out of academia—Elizabeth says a precious and unique quality of this school is “the fact that the adults here are as treasured as learners as the students are by them. That, to me, is why Milton is so dynamic and why people choose to stay for so long.”

 

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