Carol Conelly
Age: 45
Hometown: Portland
Education: Harvey Mudd College, University of California-Berkeley, Mills College
Family: husband, Lloyd; daughters, Elena and Maia
Position: robotics teacher
Before Grant: physics teacher, stay at home mom, worked for Saturday Academy
What’s in the fridge? Chocolate
Why did you want to be a teacher? “I always had loved math and science, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to use it as an engineer…or teach it, but I just found that it was so rewarding to figure out ways to excite students about science, to show them that it was relevant to them no matter what they wanted to do to show them how important it was.”
Connelly never got to participate in robotics as a student, but it’s something she believes she would have loved. She is excited to provide this opportunity to students at Grant, and wants it to become known as an interesting and fun elective. A part-time teacher, Connelly wants to ease back into work after being a stay-at-home mom for seven years.Connelly shares many of the same interests as her two daughters and husband. They enjoy math, science, spending time outdoors, hiking and camping. Every summer, she takes each of her daughters on a trip for a couple days to a place of their choosing. This summer, she traveled to Sunriver and Orcas Island.Before Connelly and her husband had children, they agreed to spend a year in a foreign country to experience a different culture. They lived in Michoacán, Mexico, and Connelly taught science there. She and her husband traveled a lot while students at University of California-Berkeley. They’ve traveled to 20 countries, but her hikes in Nepal stand out the most in her mind.