Contact Laurie Dvornak Phone: 859.689.4303

7B - Laurie Dvornak

I am in my 8th year teaching at IHM and so excited to be teaching Middle School Science! My first teaching experience began in a small coastal district in the state of Oregon, where I worked for 6 years. While there, I taught 7th and 8th grade Math/Science, Algebra, Biology, Physical Science, and Marine Biology. I am secondary certified so I have taught Science grades 5-12, and Math grades 5-9. My time in between Oregon and Kentucky was spent living in the Middle East. I designed educational programs for the National Aquarium in Kuwait and trained their teachers to work with the public. I also taught Enrichment at the Jeddah Prep and Grammar School, in Jeddah Saudi Arabia. It was a wonderful experience to live abroad and to learn other teaching strategies.

My college years were spent in WA and OR, at Whitman College where I earned a BA in Biology and Oregon State University for a BS in Zoology, BS in Science Education and a MS from the Dept. of Math-Science Education. In addition I worked at the Hatfield Marine Science Center as a Marine Educator.

My family is from eastern Washington State. I love visiting home in the summer and enjoying the low humidity and warm days. The Oregon Coast is my second home and my two children were both born there. I have had the great privilege of teaching both of my children during their 5th grade years at IHM as well as watching them grow up in our school. My daughter is now a Sophomore at SHDHS and my son is in the 8th grade. My husband’s family is all from Louisiana, and we spend a lot of time down in the New Orleans area as well. Our free time is spent in some kind of a musical hobby and we enjoy singing and performing with our contemporary Christian band, Someday Saint.

I love teaching-it is truly a calling. Math and Science are so much fun to share with children, and they have so many questions about the world around them and how it works. Working with children keeps you young and open to the world and all its many changing wonders.