Who is Summer De Mello?
Mei Peters | mpeters24@dtechhs.org
Steven Sutton | ssutton23@dtechhs.org
You may know her as an expert of Norse mythology or someone with an unlimited supply of random d.tech trivia. This year, d.tech is overjoyed to welcome Summer De Mello!
Although De Mello has been a staple member of this community for most of this school year, she has recently taken a permanent position.For a while, she was filling in for a number of teachers, including Mr. Groh and Ms. Pazin. Now that Ms. Pazin has shifted to part-time, Summer will be permanently assuming the role of 10th grade d.lab teacher on the days that Ms. Pazin is absent. Summer says, “for right now, I’m doing d.lab, but it depends on what they want me to do in the Fall. I’d be happy teaching basically anything.”
Although she isn’t particularly experienced in design thinking, she has plenty of experience as a teacher.
“ [I] worked at San Francisco State as a teaching assistant for most of grad school,” and every summer, she “would teach with Upward Bound at Canada College, a program for all the local high school students, and [I] would teach English 1 and English 2, and sometimes Anthropology.”
Summer spoke about how she started off covering for Mr. Groh between the months of October and December, during this time, she got to know a lot of the students. This was when she decided that she really liked d.tech. She says, “I like the teaching style, I like that it’s not rigid, I like that you guys can go out in the hall if you want, or go for a walk if you need a break, or go outside if you need to. And I like that it’s more hands-on.”
What are some fascinating facts about her? As stated earlier, Summer enjoys learning about Norse gods and goddesses and even led an intersession class in February that focused on the topic. She is also a huge fan of theater. She has a masters degree in theater costume design and says that in her spare time, she makes them.
Another fact about Summer is that she is a member of the Society of Creative Anachronism, “a group of people who recreate the middle ages,” according to her.
Lastly, she lives in the middle of the woods and every now and then, she rides her motorcycle to school.
Ultimately, Summer’s uniqueness and the level of care she shows for her students makes her a perfect member of the d.tech community.