Buried among old files on her parents’ computer was an essay that Math and Computer Science Teacher Ms. Dominique Voso wrote sixteen years ago. The prompt: Where I Want to Be 25 Years From Now. Her answer, written as a freshman in high school: a teacher.
A decade and a half later, Ms. Voso would make her teenage self proud. She has established herself at Bishop’s as an interdisciplinary teacher, instructing students in both Precalculus and Software Development. The end of this school year will mark her fourth year at Bishop’s, and she will depart to Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, New York.
Contrary to her essay from high school, teaching was not always the plan she had in mind. When Ms. Voso entered college as a bioengineering major, she enjoyed all of her science classes and was certain she’d become an engineer.
But throughout college, she kept gravitating towards forms of teaching. She was working with children in after-school programs, tutoring, and serving as a teaching assistant (TA). “Then I kind of decided that I actually didn’t think the corporate world was really my place,” she explained. “And I really love school.”
Ms. Voso is one of the few Bishop’s faculty members to teach across two departments: Math and Computer Science. She teaches both Precalculus and Software Development. “I think I’ve always been someone who hasn’t been tied to one subject anyway,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in all these general kinds of STEM things.”
She chose math first because of her love for problem-solving. “It’s an important subject to understand how to have logical reasoning and critical thinking, and to be able to figure out problems with the set of information that you know,” she said.
Inside her classroom in Gilman, four rows of computer desks fill the room. It is not a typical set up, and not one her students immediately loved. “At first, I hated the layout,” said Malaika Khanna (‘27), a student in Ms. Voso’s Precalculus class. Logan Yockey (‘27), another student, agreed: “I was like, ‘oh man, this is gonna be kind of a weird setup.’”
But it worked. Ms. Voso organized students into groups of four, moving through the rows with an iPad connected to the projector, bringing the class together as they worked through problems in their worksheets.
Just as important was the atmosphere she created around math, a notoriously difficult subject. Logan recalled a recent class where a student hesitated before presenting, worried they had the wrong answer.
Ms. Voso’s response: “Nobody cares if it’s wrong. We’re just trying it out. This is new stuff.”
Malaika believed that attitude mattered. “She doesn’t want you to get in your head about math,” she said. “And I’m someone who struggles — if I don’t know a problem, I get frustrated really easily. But she’s keeping the momentum up and keeping a positive attitude towards math, and then responds really well to questions.”
Teaching computer science happened later. Her Software Development course is an elective taught by her alongside Computer Science Teacher Mr. Darren Cameron. “We refined the curriculum, kind of really nailed it down and made some tweaks,” Mr. Cameron explained. “We really like what Software Dev has become.”
The course, as they’ve built it, gives students room to build their own creative projects. One assignment, for example, featured re-creations of games like Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Current Software Development student Charlotte Zheng (‘29) found Ms. Voso strong at introducing new material — especially seeing as they were all brand-new to coding. “There have been a couple of units that I found more difficult than the other ones,” Charlotte said. “Nonetheless she’s always there. She’s very patient and willing to re-explain until you really understand.” Mina Ogden (‘28), a student from last year, exclaimed, “I loved her as a teacher. She would break down each piece of code that she was teaching to us.”
Computer Science Department Chair Dr. Marcus Jaiclin explained that one of Ms. Voso’s strengths was “responding to questions with questions.” Helping students meant equipping them with the skills to properly think about a problem, rather than giving them all the information — something Ms. Voso was great at.
But that’s not all. Due to a change in staffing, Ms. Voso wound up also teaching the eighth grade robotics elective — a semester-long class she inherited with no existing curriculum and a room full of materials up for grabs. Dr. Jaiclin said, “She came with an open mind and came to help with something that she wasn’t completely familiar with, but still dabbled in.”
The class ended up looking something like this: balloons attached to robots. Students with thumbtacks trying to pop the balloons. Ping pong balls launched across the room into targets. “She did some really nice stuff with that course,” Dr. Jaiclin said. “The kids had a ton of fun with it.”
What Dr. Jaiclin will remember most about Ms. Voso? Their chaotic robotics trip to New Jersey two years ago.
When the group arrived at one in the morning, they were exhausted and hungry. “We tried to go to this diner, but it was actually closed,” Ms. Voso remembered. The only restaurant open was McDonald’s.
That wasn’t the end of it. Ms. Voso said, “When we were about to leave, I said to Emma [Liu ‘27], ‘Wow, I can’t believe the whole trip, nothing bad happened.’” If there was ever a moment to knock on wood, it was then. Almost on cue, Dr. Jaiclin called: his car had died. All the students hurriedly packed into Ms. Voso’s car and rushed to the airport — only to discover their flight had been delayed five hours. They arrived back at San Diego at 4 A.M.
The New Jersey chaos aside, over the last couple years, Ms. Voso has settled into the “little community” in Wheeler Bailey.
It’s where she shares an office with Mr. Cameron. The two of them often check-in with one another about the going-ons in their Software Development classes. “I always liked the idea of having an office space with other teachers,” Ms. Voso said. “Because I don’t want to be alone and isolated.”
Their humor lined up, too. Like Ms. Voso, Mr. Cameron grew up on the East Coast. As opposed to West Coast, the “East Coast humor” is “a little edgier [and] a little drier,” as Mr. Cameron explained. “I totally get her humor,” he said.
Many of Ms. Voso’s other colleagues also reside in Wheeler Bailey. “If there’s like some news to share, you just pop your head out and you’re like, ‘oh my god, guess what?’” she said.
The building became what she called “a hangout spot:” a place to ask questions, study, or chat with friends.
“I would be like, ‘I’m coming to Wheeler Bailey to do homework!’” Emma, who got to know Ms. Voso on a robotics trip, said “And I wouldn’t do a single bit of homework.” Instead, Emma would find herself drawn into conversation with Ms. Voso. “I’d be like, ‘Oh wait, it’s Ms. Voso. Wait, have you done today’s crossword?’”. “And she’d be like, ‘No, I haven’t.’” Then, the pair — sometimes joined by Mr. Cameron — would open the New York Times games and work through crossword puzzles together.
On the app, Emma and Ms. Voso are friends and compete daily in the Mini — a bite-sized version of the classic crossword. Each attempt to beat the other with a faster solve time. Emma usually wins that one. “It’s actually nice when Emma doesn’t do it,” Ms. Voso laughed. That way, there’s less pressure to beat her time.
The classic crossword, however, is where Ms. Voso excels. Emma said, “Ms. Voso mogs me at the big crossword. She’s way better at that.”
To put their crossword skills to the test, Emma and Ms. Voso tried to make one of their own, though it never fully came into fruition. “We even made a brainstorming doc…and then school became a thing,” said Emma.
Ms. Voso’s office is also home to her freshman advisory — a group she speaks about with particular warmth. She said, “I love my advisees. The hardest thing to leave here would be my advisory.”
Advisory has been one of Ms. Voso’s most meaningful traditions at Bishop’s. “Advisory is this random group of people you wouldn’t have hung out with otherwise, but you’re forced together for a couple years,” she continued. “Maybe they’re not your friends you’re going to hang out with on the weekend but they’re this constant in your life.”
Her advisees noticed the little things. Theo Lightner (‘29) remembered how Ms. Voso would help them with math problems when she was free. As they went over the Daily Bulletin every morning, Maddie Bennett (‘29) recalled, “I’ll miss the way she always says, ‘Oh, it’s Maddie’s favorite lunch today.’ I love that.”
Outside of Wheeler Bailey and her classroom, Ms. Voso coaches the Bishop’s Swim Team. She grew up swimming competitively and had coached at previous schools, so the pool was a familiar setting. “Coaching is the best thing that you can do because you get to see all these students in a context that’s not school,” she said. Watching swimmers continue to shave seconds off of their times year after year was something she loved to witness.
Ms. Voso also coached the surf team for two years. When the previous surf coach left, she stepped in, despite having picked up surfing only when she moved to La Jolla. “I learned so much about competitive surfing,” she said. “They are just amazing surfers — all of them.”
A New Jersey native, Ms. Voso had spent her entire life living on the East Coast. But the “allure of great weather, the beach, and lots of outdoor activities” drew her towards the opposite coast of the country.
Ms. Voso called herself “outdoor-sy,” an apt description. Last year, she went to five national parks. She’s an avid surfer, a hobby she took up after moving to La Jolla. “There’s nothing better than a sunset when you’re out in the waters and the waves are just perfect,” she described. “You just feel such gratitude for getting to live this life.”
She’s also set to run her first marathon on May 31st. “If things have been boring, you want a new challenge,” she said, words that fully capture her mindset.
When she’s not outside, she crochets animals. With the TV playing in the background, she’ll mindlessly crochet the hours away. Her proudest creations? Lots of octopuses and a shark she made her sister for Christmas.
Come August, Ms. Voso will teach math at Riverdale Country School located in the Bronx, New York. Coincidentally, former Bishop’s Math Teacher Ms. McKenna Scott is also at Riverdale. “I’ll be reunited with another Bishop’s teacher,” she smiled. That, and having lived in New York before, Ms. Voso said, “It’s going to be a big life change for me, but it’s also not fully the ‘unknown.’”
When asked whether she’s moving to New York just to get closer to NYT Games, Ms. Voso laughed and responded, “Maybe now they’ll publish one of my crosswords.”
Math Teacher Mr. Vidal is already making plans. He joked, “I know where I’m gonna stay when I go to New York.”
Thinking back to that ninth grade essay, Ms. Voso said, “It’s funny — the older you get, you forget what you thought as a kid, right?” Her fourteen year old self had known she wanted to be a teacher from the start.
“It was my plan all along and I forgot about it,” she said.
