Stacie Miller, Science Department

How do you see & instill a passion for social justice in your students?

In my classes, we touch upon a variety of controversial scientific and environmental issues like climate change, oil exploration, extinction and the like. I remind my students that everything on Earth needs to thrive for its own sake and that of other things dependent on it. I encourage my students to do their part to protect the only home we have. Many become passionate about doing what is right and fighting for organisms that cannot fight for themselves.

What do you hope students take from your classes?

A better appreciation for the world in which they live! The ability to ask questions and seek answers. Wanting to know why the ocean is blue and figuring out the phenomena behind it! Wanting to know why whooping cranes dance their beautiful dances and speculating on their significance.

What is your favorite project to assign?

The FISH PROJECT! Students get to care for a community of fish and observe their behaviors and interactions. They can measure data to determine how changes in a fish tank affect the lives of the fish in it.

What is your favorite Immaculate Heart tradition?

My favorite school tradition is Welcome Day. As moderator for the junior class, I love to watch all my eleventh grade students come together to create a performance that fits together seamlessly and welcomes the freshmen. It is such a fun day!

What is your favorite spot on campus?

I have two favorite spots on campus. The first is right outside my second-floor classroom door, looking over the balcony toward the quad. I like to step out every now and then just to take a look around. We have a beautiful campus. My other favorite spot is at my desk in the very early morning, watching the sun rise in the east through my large glass windows. The colors I see are mesmerizing and it’s quiet that early in the morning!

What has been your favorite place to travel? Where would you like to travel next?

My two favorite places to travel are the Channel Islands and Monterey. I love the central coast of California and have done so many trips along it. I spent some time during the summer of 2020 in northern Utah and it was absolutely gorgeous. I could see my family and me living there. I would love to see Montana, Colorado and New Zealand.

Immaculate Heart High School & Middle School

5515 Franklin Avenue • Los Angeles, California 90028
phone: (323) 461-3651 • fax: (323) 462-0610

A Catholic, independent college preparatory school for girls in grades 6 through 12, Immaculate Heart has been located on a beautiful hillside property in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles since our founding by the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1906. We celebrate more than a century of nurturing the spiritual, intellectual, social and moral development of students as they distinguish themselves as women of great heart and right conscience.