Amara Alexander

Amara Alexander

Fellowship Placement: Library of Congress
Hometown: Chattanooga, TN

Amara Alexander comes to her fellowship from Woodmore Elementary in Chattanooga, TN, where she is a K-5 STEM teacher. Amara will serve her Fellowship at the Library of Congress. Amara has been an educator for 12 years having taught in the elementary school system in Madison, Alabama as a 6th grade science teacher and a 5th grade English Language Arts teacher. Her true passion is teaching STEM to elementary students and encouraging them to explore the world around them through hands-on inquiry and investigation. This passion led her to leave Alabama and pursue her ‘dream job’ as an elementary STEM teacher. As a STEM educator, Amara invites her students to reimagine themselves as scientists and engineers while learning. Her lessons are filled with energetic movement and song with a splash of innovative cultural experiences. Outside of the classroom, Amara continues to boost student engagement in STEM with after-school groups, competitive teams and organizing school-wide events.

Amara’s drive to grow professionally has led her to participate in a variety of opportunities such as the Honeywell Educator at Space Camp, the Missile Defense Agency STEM Education Development Workshop, the American Geoscience Institute/ExxonMobil STEM Teacher Leadership Academy and was a STEM Fellow for the Public Education Foundation in Chattanooga, TN. In 2016, Amara was named the Milken Educator of the year for the state of Alabama for her exemplary teaching in the area of STEM education. That same year she served as a co-chair on the Science Strategic committee for the Alabama State Department of Education. Amara is a proud graduate of Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University located in Normal, AL where she earned both her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Elementary Education.