From Desa:

“I grew up in southeastern Wisconsin, in a small town known for smoking Patrick Cudahy Bacon using Sweet Apple-Wood. I graduated from Marquette University with a Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology and then I spent the next 20 years working in Banking. Once I graduated, my husband was in the Navy, so that took me to Florida. His job moved us around Florida and then back to Wisconsin. My husband's job with the Department of Veteran's Affairs brought us to the DC area, where I became a stay-at-home mom and started volunteering at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for about 10 years. I am married with three wonderful children, 2 girls and a boy, who introduced me and my husband to the sport of rowing. Our oldest daughter graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a degree in Ocean Engineering and is now working for the Department of the Navy in Norfolk VA, our middle daughter is a junior at Stevenson University studying Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics, and our son is a freshman at Florida Institute of Technology study Astronautics and Aerospace Engineering and Rowing as a D2 athlete.”

Read our full interview with Desa below:

1. What led you to your current role as an Engineering teacher? I know that you had a very different career prior to this role.

I started with Fairfax County Public Schools in February of 2021 as a classroom monitor once schools reopened after the COVID closures. I was the adult monitor in the classroom for various teachers who were still teaching remotely for students that were back in the classroom. When the school year ended, I was asked if I would like to come back in August for the 21-22 school year as a preferred substitute at Edison High School, so I figured why not? The first month of that school year, I was floating around subbing for a variety of teachers and classes. At the beginning of September, I was approached by building administrators who asked if I was interested in a long-term subbing position, and I of course said yes!

I have been the 9th Integrated Engineering 1 and 11th Grade Integrated Engineering 3 teacher ever since. I became fully licensed June of 2024, and in October of 2024, I started working on my Masters in Education with an Emphasis in STEM. During this time, I have had the opportunity to participate in the STEM Teacher Leadership Academy and the ACCESS Lending Library programs and have met a great bunch of instructors (Kate Kogge and Svea Anderson), fellow teachers, and great guest speakers.

2. We heard that your students have been doing quite well in technology competitions this past year - can you tell us more?

Since my classes are Career and Technical Education courses, I am required to be part of a CTSO (Career and Technical Student Organization) such as the Technology Student Association. Our school chapter has students that start competition at the regional level and then progress to state level and even national level competitions. For the past two years, the students have had very good successful results at the state level with 11 qualifying in 2024 and 8 qualifying in 2025 for Nationals. My co-advisor and I will continue working with the students after the school year ends to prepare for Nationals, which will be in Nashville at the end of June.  

I am also the advisor to the Edison ACE Team. ACE is a program put together by ACE DC Mentor Program, and they bring architecture, construction and engineering professionals into schools to mentor students in those various industries. The program also hosts an annual competition between participating high schools in Northern Virginia, and last year the Edison Team won the competition.

Side note: Desa was selected as the ACE Outstanding Teacher of the Year for the DC Metro Region!

3. What is your favorite classroom resource that you love to share with your students? What memorable lessons or activities have you been able to carry out using this resource?

With my 11th graders, my favorite resource has to be the DroneBlocks - the students were really able to understand what it means to have to plan their flight paths to deal with terrain and think about battery capacity. I look forward to expanding on these project requirements next school year and potentially present a more complex problem to the students.

With my 9th graders - our outdoor garden and courtyard space. Getting the students to think about where food comes from and how students and families can be in food deserts even here in Northern Virginia. The students can think about providing options for individuals who are living in food deserts and what kind of foods they would want to eat if they were in a similar situation.

4. What is the best part about your job?

Seeing the students have those ah ha moments! These can be as simple as helping 11th grade students understand the math behind Free Body Diagram and them knowing that Mrs. Elwell can explain about lift/drag/thrust of flying objects, or seeing the 9th grade team proud of the fact that their aquaponics project is mostly working. I enjoy teaching students how to use basic tools, and I frame those lessons as not just learning to use the tools here in my classroom, but also learning skills that you will be able to use for the rest of your life. I also enjoy the days when I am able to see a team working cohesively together to put something together using power tools and helping each other out while doing so. 

Thank you so much, Desa! Happy Summer Vacation to all of our educator friends in the D.C. area and beyond.