Mrs. Elizabeth Hopper, who came to Memphis University School (MUS) in June of 2007, is retiring after teaching math for 19 years at MUS. Mrs. Hopper didn’t even start off as a teacher. Instead, she started off in a private sector where she managed and helped train employees. However, what she loved most was the training aspect of her job, which led her to teaching.
Already having a math degree and loving math because “it just made sense,” she decided to go back and get a bachelor’s degree at Athens State University and a master’s degree at Tennessee State University to help her pursue teaching. The first school where she taught was Brentwood High School, where she taught AP Calculus, Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus. Along with her position in Brentwood, she decided to substitute and teach younger kids for a month. However, she decided to go back to the high school because teaching the younger kids was just “not [her] cup of tea.” She then taught some adjunct courses at the University of Memphis (UofM) before coming to Memphis University School in 2007. Upon arriving at MUS, she had been in some form of education for about 37 years. She thought she would only stay a few years; however, she instantly fell in love with the place. She loved MUS because it gave her “the perfect work-life balance and [ability] to be a mother.” She started when her youngest was just in kindergarten. Before MUS, she had been out of the classroom for almost 9 years. During her teaching hiatus, she had been training teachers, helping them with technology and textbooks, helping the Texas Instruments company with calculators, along with a few other roles.
Upon arriving at MUS, she got right to work. She taught multiple classes, including her favorite subject, geometry. While in the Lower School, she helped coach MATHCOUNTS, and she won the Edyth May Sliffe Award from the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) for her motivation towards students through the MAA’s American Mathematics Competitions (AMC). Furthermore, in the last two years of her teaching at MUS, she advised the DECA club at MUS, inspiring her students to think critically about business scenarios and business management. Having been the President of her DECA chapter in high school, she had always been drawn towards it, and wished she “would have done it the whole time” at MUS.
Through these extra activities that she has chosen to do, she has built a solid relationship with her students. Ike Emmert (11), one of the many influenced by her, said, “I’m incredibly honored to have worked with Mrs. Hopper this past year.” He further explained, “I’m proud of the work I accomplished this year, and I owe a lot of that to Mrs. Hopper.” He, having worked with her to lead the DECA club, is eternally grateful for all she has poured into DECA and her students.
After 37 long but happy years of off-and-on teaching, Mrs. Hopper has chosen to retire. She hopes to spend her time having fun, help teach at under-resourced schools, continue to dominate in pickleball and travel with her husband, who has recently retired from St. Jude.
Looking back, her deepest wish is both simple and profound: “I hope I will be remembered as fair, kind, and encouraging.” More than anything, she wants her students to know that she truly “loved her students” and that her work was “all about the kids.” Colleague Mr. Chris Fiano describes her as someone who “helps with kindness and compassion” and calls her “genuine,” praise that reflects what so many in the community feel. She often says that MUS was “a perfect fit that gave her freedom,” a place where she could teach with both rigor and warmth, always putting her students at the center of everything she did.
Mrs. Hopper, thank you for all your valuable assistance to MUS. Your clear passion and dedication towards the school not only earned you the title of Faculty Emerita but also has left a lifelong impression on your students, inspiring a love for shapes and numbers that extends far beyond the classroom.
