Amanda Ferris

Science Teacher

“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” Aristotle
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” I am a proud Native Nevadan, raised in Reno and have been here the majority of my life. I did live in Florida for two years, but came back because, in my humble opinion, the West Coast is the best coast! I love to travel, spend time with my family and closest friends and be outside as much as possible.

I have always wanted to be a teacher. I was naturally bossy to my younger brother and was inspired by my third grade teacher. I used to go home and teach my stuffed animals and give out homework. I knew what I was destined to become right then and there. I studied education at the University of Nevada, Reno and began teaching in 2005. I started my teaching career teaching 4th graders and absolutely loved it. After a few years, I was encouraged to roll up with one class and taught the same group for 5th grade and then eventually taught 6th grade, all at Agnes Risley Elementary. I found my love for teaching Math and Science there and challenged myself to spread my wings and teach those subjects at Traner Middle School. This is where I found that teaching was my true calling in life. I became the strong educator I am today thankful to those students I worked with, the team I collaborated with and the administrators that pushed me along the way. After five years, I needed to shake things up personally and I picked up and moved to Destin, Florida. There, I taught 4th grade Math and Science and enjoyed it immensely. But, Florida was not for me and I came home. HOME IS NEVADA! I then taught 5th grade at Brown Elementary for a few years and was at Melton Elementary teaching 3rd and 4th grades when the Pandemic hit.
This time was a challenge for us all and I used the time to get my Masters in Education Administration. I wanted to make a difference on a larger scale and support teachers in classroom. I went full force into administration and became the Dean at Florence Drake Elementary. I was there for two years and worked amongst some of the very best, yet I wanted to climb the ladder. I moved onto being an Assistant Principal at Lois Allen Elementary and took it head on. Unfortunately, my mother’s health was declining and my heart wasn’t into administration anymore and I left early. I took some time off to reevaluate my career path and worked at Nothing To It Culinary school where I learned how to cut, create, cook, and bake correctly alongside some beautiful people. It was such an interesting job, but it sparked my calling to teach kids again. And that brought me here, to Triad School, teaching middle school Science, or what I call “magic that works,” and I couldn’t be more thrilled about it.