Alessandra Soares

At New Hope since: Fall 2021
B.A. Geology, Columbia University
M.S. Geology, Brown University
Teaching: MS Earth Science
sandra.soares@newhopecourses.org

Mrs. Alessandra Soares discovered her love of geology quite by accident, taking what she thought would be an “easy” intro course in college (after struggling with high school physics). There the adventure began — she found that science taught well is truly fascinating!
Through her years at both Columbia and Brown universities, she found that exciting the interest of others in science was even more compelling than pursuing a higher degree of study on her own. Alessandra decided teaching was her calling, and after marrying her sweetheart, moved to Worcester and taught junior high at St. Mary’s for a year before taking a hiatus from work to raise her family. 

They made the decision to homeschool seven years ago, and Alessandra became involved with the Worcester homeschool community. She helped her church found the first chapter of “American Heritage Girls” in Worcester, serving four years as coordinator. She taught MS classes through her co-op, including a fun science class for her church’s summer program.  To keep the attention and interest of middle school students, the age she most enjoys teaching, she focused on pairing traditional classroom-learning with hands-on activities. On went the aprons, gowns, and goggles for dissections and chemistry experiments; out came the K’nex to teach the concept of work. Middle schoolers are especially receptive to this kind of involved learning, and Alessandra enjoys finding practical demonstrations to illustrate concepts in biology, botany, chemistry, physics, and engineering, as well as geology. In addition, coaching an Odyssey of the Mind team two years ago brought new ideas about how to encourage creativity in the classroom. Last year, Alessandra taught botany and biology through dissections at the Memoria Press Cottage School in Lancaster. 

Alessandra is always excited about new methods to interpret science in a fun way for her students. Never once did she think (back in college) that as an adult, she would store snakes in her bulkhead for dissection class, or boil her own red cabbage acid/base indicator. But she is really grateful for taking the journey! When not learning or teaching, Alessandra can be found running errands in her blue Subaru, kayaking, or working out.