After beginning her teaching journey in Fairfax County with no union in 2013, Elyse began her MCPS journey teaching third grade at Piney Branch Elementary School in 2016. She then taught kindergarten and third grade at Farmland Elementary, and now second grade at Wyngate Elementary.
Having started teaching in a nonunion state, Elyse knows how important unions are and has experienced the hardships without them. However, she never planned to become a union leader until my colleagues saw her potential and elected her as building rep in a write-in election. Inspired by the leaders around her at Rep Assemblies, Elyse threw herself into the work and never looked back, eventually joining the 2022-2023 Bargaining Team, and increasing committee work over the past several years. She quickly grew to love helping bring about the changes we need in the school systems and fighting for educators’ voices to be heard. Elyse finds that it is important to talk directly to those most affected by current circumstances and elevate those voices.
Fun Fact:
- For several years, Elyse was extremely active in the YA book fandom community. She worked on multiple websites, met/interviewed authors and actors, and went to the Mockingjay: Part 1 movie premiere. She attended the official afterparty in LA, helped produce a fan musical, and even organized/hosted an online convention in 2013!