About Miss Reese

Hello, everybody! I am Ms. Katharine Reese and I'm excited for another great year at Early Light Academy. This school fosters a wonderful sense of community and respect of which I am very proud to be a part.

I grew up in Long Beach, California and loved it. I was 10 minutes from the beach, 15 minutes from Disneyland, and 30 minutes away from Los Angeles and Hollywood (on a good traffic day). It was awesome! When I graduated from high school, I decided to attend Brigham Young University-Idaho. I was not completely sure what I wanted to do with my future career, but I knew that I loved to play the piano (especially to accompany singers and other musicians), so I started school as a Piano Performance major. Not long into the first semester, I realized that avenue was not for me. I will always love to play the piano, but I needed to find something else. 

I have a lot of interests and hobbies and vacillated between options quite a bit before I decided on Elementary Education and a minor in History Education. I was an enterprising kid growing up (ask me about my "smelly sticks" sometime), and when I was twelve years old I started teaching piano lessons to a little boy in my neighborhood. One thing led to another and by the time I graduated from high school, I had 12 paying students coming every week. When I was trying to decide where to focus my academic attentions in college, I remembered these piano lessons. I loved the music, but even more than that, I loved the kids. I cherish that moment when the lightbulb clicks on and it makes sense. It almost never comes right away, but with enough practice, it does come! 

I am so happy that I have chosen to be a teacher. I have practiced and worked very hard and will continue to do so. I have very rarely worked as hard or felt so fulfilled as when I am in my classroom. I teach because of the kids. Fifth graders are hilarious, kind, clever, and hardworking. It is incredibly rewarding to see the growth that can be made within a week, a month, a quarter, and a year. Small goals achieved help bring about bigger goals achieved and I love to help my students get there. I teach because I want to guide children to realize more of their own potential as a learner and as a citizen.

Here's to a great year of learning and making history at Early Light Academy!