Lucy Ortiz grew up in Ketchikan, Alaska, a small island community in the Tongass National Rainforest that receives about 160 inches of rain each year. There, she passed the school survival class by perfecting her one-match fire-building skills, played soccer on a gravel field, and spent many mornings tidepooling on local beaches, which remains one of her favorite hobbies. After high school, Lucy decided it was time for a culture shock and moved to the other side of the country to study economics and educational policy at the nation’s ninth-oldest college, Washington and Lee University. As an educator, she is interested in exploring what culturally responsive education looks like for all her students. A deep lover of learning, Lucy has never left school, moving from high school to college and straight into teaching. She spends her free time outside of her own classroom in other classrooms, taking courses on everything from line dancing and Chilkat thigh spinning to ecology and coding. Lucy especially loves exploring fiber arts, including knitting, knot tying, and cross stitch.