Elizabeth Bellas

Government and Advanced Placement (AP) United States History are stressful classes: the reading is endless; the lectures are constant; and keeping track of every name, date and era in the curriculum can feel impossible. Despite these challenges, Elizabeth Bellas believes she can provide academic and emotional support to every student that walks into her classroom.

“Burlingame can be stressful for a lot of students,” Bellas said. “Hopefully, after a month of having me as a teacher, they’ve gotten this sense [that] my goal is to not stress students out and maybe actually make their lives a little bit less stressful.”

While she is new to the Burlingame campus, Bellas is familiar with the school district, as she previously taught at Hillsdale High School for a few years. Her positive experience there influenced her decision to teach at Burlingame.

“My overall impression of the district was that it was super organized, teachers were treated well, [and] students were great,” Bellas said. “Students are great everywhere you go and in a lot of ways…but really, the way that the district treated teachers meant a lot.”

Bellas’ interest in history increased during her high school years as she learned more about it through classes like AP European History.

Bellas chose to pursue history further in college, earning a bachelor’s degree in history from UC Santa Barbara. While working at a nonprofit tutoring center in college, Bellas was inspired by a mentor to pursue education, leading her to get a masters’ degree in education from Stanford University.

“[Connie] really pushed me a lot to think about the inequities and why some students were coming to this nonprofit center other than some of the more [expensive tutoring centers] in Santa Barbara,” Bellas said. “[Her support] boosted my confidence as a young person in education.”

Besides the limitations of the College Board curriculum, Bellas has no complaints so far — only a genuine enthusiasm for her job, aided by the welcoming community of students and staff at Burlingame.

Despite having only spent a few months teaching at Burlingame, Bellas is already a well-known member of the community due to her warm personality, passion for teaching and eagerness to become more involved on campus, particularly as the club advisor of the crochet, pickleball, and San Mateo Health Center clubs.

“I’ve had such a great time and Burlingame students are so amazing,” Bellas said. “Just so happy [and] easy to talk to. Just so great. I’ve been having a great year so far.”