The Bishop’s School is proud to add another great member to the math faculty — Ms. Syrah Lemos! Previously teaching at the Webb School in Los Angeles, she moved to San Diego this summer and is looking forward to exploring all that Bishop’s and the city has to offer.
Q: How has Bishop’s been so far? What are some of your thoughts on the community; students, coworkers, and environment?
Bishop’s is really great. I love the community, and the awesome students who are really motivated and excited to learn. Can’t get a much better location. The lunch is amazing, and I’m really enjoying the food. It seems like everybody’s really happy to be here, really excited to be a part of the community. I think people seem very connected, people look out for each other. I remember kind of on my interview day, even just teaching one class I was getting a lot of people waving as I was walking through campus, so I think [it’s] very welcoming and very community oriented and very driven.
Q: What math classes do you teach?
I teach Math 3 and Core Math 4.
Q: What led you to choose to teach math?
Well, it was kind of a long story, I started out not really being interested in math, not because I wasn’t good at it—I was in a lot of advanced classes in high school— but I didn’t really understand the purpose. Then when I got to college, I started studying finance and economics, and I started discovering the purpose and that brought me back to a math major. I ended up majoring in math and econ and I felt very frustrated that students don’t seem to understand the purpose of math until they get to college, or at least I didn’t. You kind of learn the steps of math but you don’t understand the purpose. So my goal was to bring that kind of knowledge that I got in college to a younger level so I went to grad school at UC Berkeley to learn more about how students learn, and learn more about how education functions, and taught at a school up there for a little while. And then, yeah, I’ve basically been trying to bring the purpose of math to students since then.
Q: What are some of your hobbies outside of school?
I like running. I used to coach cross country and I do a lot of distance running in my spare time. I’m still getting to know the trails around here and I’m a big reader.
Q: What’s your favorite book that you’ve read?
It’s hard to pick a favorite book but the Other Americans is the book I’m reading right now that I’m really enjoying.
Q: What are you looking forward to this year?
Right now I’m looking forward to Halloween. I think that is going to be a whole lot of fun but I think overall, it’s interesting to see how the school kind of shifts over the course of the year. The excitement from the start of the year kind of starts to wear off and you get into more of the daily routine, you kind of get to know some of the more intricate classes so I think I’m looking forward to that.
Q: Any last thoughts about Bishop’s or your experience so far as a whole?
No, it’s awesome. Happy to be here.
Overall, Ms. Lemos is looking forward to a great school year. We’re so glad to have you on the team!
