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Teacher of the Year
Senior High Level
Elizabeth Ward, Serra High School
English Teacher and Coach
Serra High School English teacher and coach, Elizabeth Ward
has been teaching for nine years, all at the same high school
where she once walked the halls as a student. A graduate of the
Class of 1987, she teaches ninth grade and Advanced Placement
(AP) English and coaches girls’ lacrosse, field hockey and soccer.
She credits her love of teaching to her grandfather who was a high school teacher/headmaster and athletics coach at an all-boys prep school in Connecticut. She spent summer and winter vacations in Connecticut, where her grandfather taught her the keys to inspiring young people to succeed: connect with students, be interested in their lives, and treat him or her as bright, capable, and worthy individuals. His lessons guide her own teaching today.
Teaching and coaching three sports year round does not afford Elizabeth much time for extracurricular activities. However, she continues to compete in soccer on the weekends as a member of the Peninsula Women’s Soccer League. She also gives private and small group field hockey lessons and clinics to girls who attend De Portola Middle School; organizes the Serra Field Hockey Q’s for the Cure team that walks in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure; and is working with her golden retriever, Hamlet, on becoming certified as a Canine Good Citizen so together they can visit patients of all ages in hospitals.
Elizabeth says that any other bit of spare time is devoted to helping her parents care for her
92-year-old grandmother, the wife of the man in whose memory she gets up every morning
and goes to school ready to make a difference in the lives of her scholars. As her grandmother
reminds her often, “Your grandfather is looking down on you and is so proud!” She teaches in
honor of both her grandparents every day.
“As the parent of a special education student, Ms. Ward has gone above and beyond the requirements of an educator. Where most teachers fear my son as a new student, due to his many disabilities and difficulties in learning, Ms. Ward immediately made contact with me to learn how she can best help him in and out of the classroom,” says a parent. “Through her efforts, my son is making great progress and he loves her class. She is a shining example of dedication and responsibility for no child left behind.”
Elizabeth earned her B.A. in Communications Studies from the University of San Diego and her M.A. in Teaching from National University.
