Suzan Kypriotis

While still deciding what I want to be when I grow up, I have worked with students for twenty-eight years. Beginning with fourth graders at Hughes-Lake Elizabeth School in 1971, I then went into the Peace Corps.


It was, indeed, the toughest job I ever loved. I taught in Lesotho, southern Africa, where my best friend still lives. I acquired another name there, Mosa Ralekoala. I taught science, math, English, and health at three different schools - Christ the King High School, Holy Cross High School, and Mazenod High School.  Returning to the Mojave Desert, my favorite biome, I taught at Ruscelli's Boys' School and Paraclete High School.


Mojave

I then traveled as a missionary to Truk Island, in the Eastern Caroline Islands of the Pacific Ocean, trading Joshua Trees for leis, teaching High School at Xavier High School. Returning to the Mojave Desert again, I worked as an Accounts Payable Technician at Antelope Valley Hospital, while getting my Master's degree in Education: Curriculum and Instruction. Then I worked at U.S. Borax as a chemical analyst while also teaching at Cerro Coso Community College. I also taught a class for Chapman University. Subjects I taught were Chemistry, Psychology, Biology, Health, and Ecology. I obtained a second Masters in Psychology.


Cerro Coso

While at U.S. Borax, I met my husband, Nikos Kypriotis, a Greek sailor!!! We married in 1983, I became a step-mother to a wonderful child, Chris, who recently graduated from UCLA with a double major, and in 1984 I was blessed with the sunshine of my life, my daughter, Katy, who is presently 15 years old.

We went to Australia when Katy was only five months old. Then back to the Mojave Desert where I continued teaching at Desert High School, 9th-12th grades later moving to Clanton, Alabama so Katy would be near her grandparents during kindergarten. I worked as a polar lipid chemist and we then moved to Turkiye, teaching at Incirlik High School. It was wonderful living near Tarsus, visiting the early Christian sites and experiencing such an old culture. From Turkiye we went to Greece, then, during the Gulf War, lived in Alexandria, Virginia. From there we moved to Konigstein, Germany, and I taught at Vilseck High School. Additionally, I taught at City Colleges of Chicago and Martin Luther King College.

Returning again to the Mojave Desert, I taught at Barstow Middle School, directed the Desert Research Station and then the Desert Discovery Center which had its grand opening on April 17, 1999, celebrating Earth Day also. Next year I will teach science at Hinkley Middle School. That's why I'm creating this autobiographical sketch. I am currently at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and this will become a link to our web page. If you have any questions about places mentioned in this text, or would like to discuss my research interest, Multicultural Approaches to Learning Using Inquiry, you may contact me at suzan_kypriotis@barstow.k12.ca.us.


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The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
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