Introducing Sarah Shaya, Stage II Associate Teacher

I will be teaching Stage II alongside Jen Allen! I had the Roeper high school experience as a student and the middle school experience as a long-term substitute last year, so I’m very excited to finally get the Lower School/Domes experience! I will also be coaching the Middle School robotics team alongside Wendy.

What were one or two highlights in your life? 

This is such a tough question, I’m having a hard time coming up with just one or two highlights! Living in China for three years as a kid would be one. It gave me the opportunity to travel all over and to really experience a culture so fundamentally different from my own, and I contribute much of who I am as a person to the lived experiences from my time abroad.

If I only get to list two, the other one simply must be my dog, Bear! She’s a 4 year-old golden retriever I’ve had since she was 8 weeks old, and she’s my best friend! Together, she and I have lived in three different states, have road tripped all across the country (she makes me do all the driving), and have gone on all sorts of different hiking and nature trips! She loves making friends and seeing her friends at school – last year, we even threw her a Bark Mitzvah!

What would you like to share about yourself, your family, and your birthplace? 

I was born and raised in Michigan and am a Roeper alum (here 2014-17). I have two cousins, Scarlett and Eli, who are also Roeper alums, and my aunt, Ashley, was the former board chair. I’ve lived in many different places – Shanghai, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia – but am so glad to be back home, and working at my favorite place!

When I’m not working, I love to be outside in nature as much as I can! I’m a very active person, and love to lift weights, go hiking, and get my body moving! I also really enjoy crafting, and do a lot of painting and cross stitching. Finally, I love to hang out with Bear, and go on all kinds of cool adventures with her!

Math! I know, it’s kind of a cop-out answer to give, but there is a reason my tutoring business was called Sarah Loves Numbers! I fundamentally believe that everyone has the capacity to both love and be good at math, but it’s incredibly easy to fall out of love with the subject matter. I take joy in getting to show people just how cool math can be, and in turn reacquaint them with that love for numbers.

When I started at Roeper as a student, my favorite things were the autonomy I had in my education, the strong relationships I built with faculty and the way the school’s mission helped shape us as people. Now, as a teacher, I am thrilled to get to be on the other side of that equation, and help students to have that same, magical experience that I did!