The teaching staff at Lewis-Palmer High School aims to make their courses and curriculum unique and beneficial to a student’s success. Of the many teachers, Korrena De, a science teacher, is one teacher whose creative, fun and educational environment has been teaching students for ten years.

In 1996, De graduated from Erie Mason High School, MI, along with a class of ninety-six other students. She left the school with a strong passion for geology and looked forward to being a geologist.

“I was a good student and had all A’s,” De stated. “When my friends said ‘let’s go ditch, let’s skip’, I said ‘I’ll stay and take the notes.’ I stayed and took the notes, I didn’t skip, and I knew what was going on. I’d never raise my hand, I’d never answer questions, and I’d never asked a question. If I had one, I’d tell one of my friends to ask it.”

At the time, De hadn’t the slightest idea or desire to be a teacher despite the many people who told her that it would be the right job for her. De recieved her diploma and moved to New York to earn an Undergraduate Degree in Geology at the University of Buffalo. De had begun thinking about expanding her knowledge on science.

As her four years of college were coming to an end, De suddenly decided to pursue a teaching career. De, with a new career in mind, began to work for her master’s degree. She studied for an additional year at the University of Buffalo to receive her master’s.

“It was my final year and I even had the professor that I was going to work with for my master’s degree. I was going to go into Hydrology; I knew all the stuff I was going to do,” De explained. “I have no idea why, but I went up to my friend, Cheri, and I said ‘Cheri, I know what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a teacher.’”

College tuition was expensive for De; and, in order for her to accommodate the rising prices of schooling, De worked a variety of jobs such as feeding the animals at the Toledo Zoo and waitressing at Chili’s. Such loans required De to work on the weekends, and she had to be part-time Uber Driver during her first four years of teaching.

“In my freshman year in college, I was paid by the chemistry department to be an SI, a supplementary instructor, and I would hold little lessons for the lower level chemistry class. I would make tests and go over certain things. I’d sit in their class and everyone would always tell me ‘you should be a teacher,’” De commented.

In 2006, De left Buffalo, NY and joined the teaching staff at Lewis-Palmer High School. Many students agree that she has added her own unique twists to her curriculum and the students lives have been greatly impacted by that.

“Ms. De’s classes are unique because she makes sure you can understand everything that’s going on. She actually gets you to watch and to learn the things, unlike some teachers, as I understand, they’ll talk and they’ll talk, and you eventually space out. However, Ms. De makes it entertaining for you and she’s got this spunkiness to her so you really have a blast just by being in her classroom,” Nicky Selitsch, 9, stated.

De may have not known which career path she wanted to take, but her success in college and supports from her peers have lead her to a position on the Lewis-Palmer teaching staff.

“She’s really fun and outgoing and she can teach the lessons in a way where you don’t notice your learning, but when it comes time for the test you know everything,” Sarah Oliver, 9, said. “She gives us a lot of stories to remember the material by and she’ll show us videos and songs.”
Korrena De has fulfilled her teaching position to the fullest at Lewis-Palmer High School. From Michigan to New York to Colorado, De has experienced a life to remember. She plans to continue her teaching career for many years to come.