Lorelei Nguyen is a born and raised Texan from an extended family full of educators. A product of Plano ISD, she worked for Kaplan and a few other educational companies while pursuing her bachelor's degree in Psychology from UT Dallas. While Lorelei changed majors several times and pursued a variety of different fields of interest in her time at UTD, she enjoyed tutoring and teaching so much that she ultimately chose to become a middle school math teacher. As an educator of Dallas ISD, Lorelei currently teaches Honors Algebra I and is the middle school lead at George Bannerman Dealey Montessori Academy.

Lorelei's TEC Story:

"I started teaching in Oak Cliff in October of 2018. It was rough adjusting to being a teacher for the first time and having to hit the ground running because I was starting mid-six weeks. (they were still six weeks back then) As is the case for many first year teachers, I was extremely stressed, emotionally drained, and socially reclusive for a long while. I felt alone and unsupported and as the end of the semester approached, I honestly wasn't sure how long I could keep this going.

There was a teacher at that school who was very good about sending out messages about TEC's upcoming events. "It's a social group for teachers, new or veteran!" she said. I had seen one or two of her other messages about TEC before but felt I didn't have time to pursue them further. At the beginning of December, though, she forwarded the info for the Ugly Holiday Brunch. It sounded fun—I love knitting and the aesthetic of "ugly" sweaters—and the advertising for it looked so sleek and inviting that despite considering myself an introvert, I decided to take the plunge and just go.

That Ugly Holiday Brunch ended up being one of the best events I've ever been to for anything. I had such a good time and got to know not only teachers from my school, but other first year teachers who were going through the same things as me. I never would have met them if it hadn't been for this. I no longer felt so alone and I started attending more and more TEC events. I've had a blast at every TEC event I've been to, but I have a special place in my heart for that Ugly Holiday Brunch and I still try to go every year.

TEC empowered me to not only keep teaching but to strive to improve my craft, take care of myself, and build connections with others. I always bring it up when meeting new teachers and now hope to give back to TEC and the community as much as I can as a member of the EAB."