Transcript: Mrs. Ullery on College Counseling, Tech Leadership, and Building Community

Good morning, and welcome back to the Late Start Show for our first teacher interview of the 2025-2026 year. And we are so happy to be with Assistant Director of College Counseling, former Director of IT, and mentor to so many students here at U.S. Ms. Lisa Ellery, how are you, Ms.

Ellery? So good. Thank you, Charlie. That's a nice intro.

Thanks for being here. And we always start our podcast back at the beginning. So can you tell us a little bit about your childhood, kind of where you grew up, and some early influences in your life? So I grew up in Stowe, which if you turn left out of our driveway and just keep going past Twinsburg, past Hudson, you hit Stowe.

I grew up in a house with two sisters. So I have a sister who's three years older than me, and then I have an identical twin sister, which was kind of a unique upbringing, I suppose. And then both my parents are teachers, so that was also hugely impactful in my childhood. And I think growing up in an environment with all girls is certainly different than where I've ended up.

And growing up as a twin is an interesting experience, especially like in the 80s when there weren't as many twins around. It was more, you know, you felt more like, my sister likes to say, I'm not a freak on display for people. It felt more like you're just kind of unusual. So I think I spent my childhood trying to really focus on identity, like who am I?

How do I differentiate myself from other people? What's important to me? And then that foundation of education was hugely important in my house. What kind of student were you when you were younger?

Were you kind of the kid who always had her hand up in class, or maybe someone who kind of found passion outside the classroom? No, I was Hermione Granger, like irritatingly desiring to be the teacher's pet. Like I was... First one with my hand up, kind of precocious, now looking back, almost maybe obnoxious.

Like I could see that I was kind of an obnoxious kid who was like, oh, let me help. Like I know the answer. Let me do this. And in third grade, I had a teacher, Mrs.

Cusick, who was unimpressed by me. And it was like deflating because every other teacher would be like, oh, you're so perfect. You're so great. And she was just like, well, I guess you could do more.

I was like, do what? More. Like, why would I do more? I already got like all of the answers right.

And that really helped me to see that it's not just meeting a general expectation. It's seeing how far you can go on your path. And that was, again, that was pretty impactful for me to like get knocked off the rung a little bit as a kid. But yeah, I was a nerd in the best way.

Well, based on some of our, I guess you could call it background research, we found you attended Miami University for college. What led you there and what was your college experience like? Did you know you were going into a career in education or what was that like for you? So you guys will walk this path soon.

But the college experience when I was applying to college was super different. I only applied to three places. I got into all three places and then I had to really figure out what I wanted to do. I knew pretty confidently that I wanted to be a teacher.

And Miami has a great college of education. And I had. I had some amazing experiences there. So, yeah.

And cost was important to me. Again, I had a sister who was going to be alongside me at the exact same time. And my parents were both teachers. So making sure that I could get a good education and be able to afford it was important.

You know, after graduating Miami University, your first teaching job was in Wichita, Kansas. How did an Ohio native kind of end up all the way in Kansas? And what was it like moving out there? And teaching in kind of a different environment?

So that's one of the best things about college is you don't know what path you're going to get set on when you make a decision. I was a Spanish major. And so I got the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Mexico when I was in college at Miami. And when I did this study abroad in Mexico, it was through a dual program with Wichita State University.

And so I met a ton of people from Kansas, from Wichita when I was there. And they they sold me on the city. They're like, you know, this is a city that has a huge Hispanic population, a huge underserved, you know, newly immigrant population. And they need, you know, Spanish teachers.

They need bilingual teachers. You would be great if you wanted to come out here. So I did. I moved to Kansas for a year.

Cool. Well, what do you remember? You know, most teachers have like an early teaching memory kind of that stands out to them. Or do you have any?

Early teaching lessons that you learned during that year in Kansas? So I I loved being in the classroom. And I think what U.S. does so well, one of the things the U.S. does so well is their focus on relational teaching, making connections with kids, treating kids as adults, as peers in a way in the classroom, as intellectual kind of peers. So one of my early experiences was with.

It changing my dynamic of being I'm in charge of all things. I have to maintain all things in the room. And I was very mindful of classroom management and making sure that I had notes on where everybody was. And I got to see that sometimes there are some ways that a little bit of disorganization can actually be beneficial.

And especially in a language classroom, when you're trying to produce language and have kids talk, I had to let go. Of a lot of like, no, you have to raise your hand. No, you can't do that because we're trying to create conversation. We're trying to create a fluid dialog.

And so the biggest lesson I learned was giving up a little bit of control. You know, after kind of having that opportunity in Kansas, you moved to U.S. kind of back in 2004. What drew you to U.S. and made you decide to move back to Ohio and kind of continue your teaching career over here? So what I realized by moving away.

From home, and I hope everybody gets the opportunity to move away from home, is that the place that I moved was not that different from here. It's just that all the people that I loved were here. So I came back to Ohio after just a year. I started teaching in Cleveland Heights.

And then in Ohio, when you're a teacher, they really kind of force you to go back and get a master's degree, which I was happy to do and went back to Kent State and got a degree in instructional technology. and library media certification. And so when I finished that program, I was looking for librarian roles to see what was out there. And there was this opportunity at U.S. to come and be the librarian. I had never heard of it.

I've never heard of university school, even though I grew up in Summit County, not that far from here. But when I came and toured the school and interviewed and did some research, I was just really struck by how unique an educational setting this is. How brilliant the students are, how brilliant the faculty is, the way that they interact and the way that they care about what they're doing and about each other was something that I had never seen and I still haven't seen anywhere else. Are there any, I know you talked about some there, but any initial challenges or surprises when you first came to U.S.?

I mean, it's just such a different environment. It is. And again, I grew up in a house with all girls. So I remember like that first day walking down.

The main stairwell and just seeing this sea of boys and thinking, man, this is so different. This is so strange. And I, again, had only been in co-educational institutions until then. I didn't really understand the power and the advantage of being in a single-sex school, of seeing how the students here could be so natural, so comfortable, so able to explore without feeling maybe some of the social pressure.

Right. Right. Right. The kinds of pressures that they might feel in a co-educational environment.

You know, kind of as you first joined U.S., what were some of the jobs maybe if they weren't maybe being a librarian, kind of some of the extracurriculars that you kind of brought on early or maybe some of the things that you advise as you start to kind of settle in? So when I started as librarian, one of the things that I did in my first couple of years was book club, which I had so much fun doing book club. We had probably like 40 guys. We would come to book club.

We would pick a book. We would all read the book. We would come and get Chipotle for lunch and then all sit around and talk about the book. That was a lot of fun.

Like we would do that four or five times a year on different books. And then I started with One Love pretty early in my career, too, which was totally a student-initiated organization. They had heard about the National Organization of One Love and wanted to open a chapter here at U.S. And asked me if I would be the faculty advisor for it.

And that has been an incredible opportunity to talk to kids about healthy relationships for the last, I don't know, 10, 15 years. Can you talk a little bit more about the One Love experience for you? I mean, I know we experience it as students, but what is it like seeing that club from your perspective? I just think it's so important and so powerful the way that you guys are open to talking.

And talking about a healthy relationship and what that means and how you want to live into that. Sometimes those conversations are not easy. And I just think the students here are incredibly willing to be vulnerable with one another and talk about things that can be tough. When we started that chapter of One Love, we were one of the first, if not the first, all-boys school to have a chapter of One Love.

And I think that that was a really powerful statement about the kinds of students. And I think that that was a really powerful statement about the kinds of students that we have here who value that sort of dialogue and want to invest in it, want to continue to get better at living in a healthy relationship. So then after your librarian role, you, I don't know if it was directly after, but you eventually ended up in the director of IT and technology here. So, well, I mean, how did that happen?

Well, I've asked myself that so many times, Jack. We just had a need. There had been some turnover in that role. And because my degree is in instructional technology and I had been working especially at that time with the learning management system, at that time we were using a platform called Schoology, that they really were just looking for somebody to provide a little stability to the program.

So I took that on in, I think, 2016. And. It was a great experience to learn more about all of the technology roles and aspects at a school to become familiar with the Shaker campus because I hadn't really spent that much time over there. There's a lot.

Technology is all over. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. You know, you were at the forefront of kind of our technological efforts during a pretty critical time during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And I can remember honestly going to U.S. and experiencing some of the things with Zoom and some of the technology problems. But when the school had to suddenly switch to remote learning in 2020, how did you and kind of like a team of larger teachers at U.S. kind of tackle that challenge? Well, I will. I'm enormously grateful to my international teaching colleagues because we have colleagues at different schools across the country.

And as the COVID virus kind of migrated, they were saying, our school is now shut down. This is what we're doing. Our school is now shut down. This is what we're doing.

And so I was able to have a little bit of planning ahead of what we faced because they had said, hey, this just happened to us and we're using these three programs to help continue our education. And so ahead of that, we were able to get Zoom accounts for every teacher. And we were able to test out and suggest some screencasting programs. And we were able to think about how can you support teachers when you are not in the same room with them?

And how can you support students? And how can you support students who are not in the same vicinity? Because, I mean, some of our kids were all over. Like, you just went wherever you could go.

How do you make sure that everybody has reliable Wi-Fi in their home so that they can log in and then be part of class? So there were a lot of different challenges. And the best thing about it was that the teachers here were just all in. They wanted to be connected to their students.

They wanted to continue to have those relationships and to make sure that everybody was okay. That everybody was still learning, that, you know, we could retain all of the things that make U.S. so special. And obviously technology had been starting to become a big part of education before the COVID pandemic. But that kind of like accelerated the integration.

So what are, did that pandemic change your views on the role of technology in education at all? Well, it certainly made anything possible. It certainly took away a lot of obstacles that, you know, we would say, especially like with our rotating block, oh, you know, we can't figure out a way to get somebody in here because the times don't match up. Well, you know, now we can record it.

We can have somebody virtually visit. There were ways to break down barriers that I think we were not blind to, but we were reluctant to try new things. And I think COVID forced everybody to try everything that they could. So you were just like, yeah, well, let's try.

And if it fails, we'll just keep it rolling. It took away a lot. It took away a lot of people's trepidation about using technology because they were forced to do it. You know, technology evolves at such a crazy speed.

And with things coming up such as AI and the integration of AI into maybe even education, how do you keep the school updated and kind of adaptable during your tenure? I mean, do you usually manage to stay one step ahead of the curve? Well, I think that it goes back to my, you know, kind of lifestyle. I think that the goal of being a librarian brain is to always be asking questions and wanting to find an answer.

That's also kind of my Hermione Granger, like, I know the answer. I want to know how things work and to be able to anticipate possible solutions. I think our community is unique in that we have teachers who are curious, who are engaged in what they're doing in a way that they are open to trying new things. And that they are open to having difficult conversations because AI is an incredibly difficult conversation, especially for those of us who did not grow up in an AI environment.

It can be scary. And we, as, you know, old timers really value the way that we learned things and find value in that for you. And so it's a challenge to keep those things that are best and most valuable and most important. And then also allow space for.

The ability to teach you how to effectively prompt AI and how to use it responsibly and how to cite AI and how to make sure that, you know, the way that you're integrating it into your life is the way that is most beneficial to you and allowing you to retain the kind of foundational things that we think are so important. Do you think there are ways to use AI and still, like, retain that critical thinking and be able to think for yourself while using it? Absolutely. I think the more we use AI, the certainly the more powerful it becomes as it learns more about what we need it for.

But also I think that there that makes the critical thinking piece so much more important and makes that skill so much more valuable because you need to be able to really look at what the output is and decide if it's what you need. Is it accurate? And what are you going to do with it? How are you going to use it?

How are you going to use it to accomplish whatever it is that you're accomplishing? So it has heightened the need for all of those foundational skills. Well, I mean, another hat that you wear, you're the sophomore class dean. So true.

What do you find most exciting or, like, unique about the 10th grade class in that year, the sophomore year? Well, I mean, you guys now veteran juniors can remember. Sophomore year is such a great year. Because you're not freshmen.

You're just all of the anxiety, all of the the fears, all the first times you've been through it. And so you know what to expect. And it's the first time you're really, I think, totally comfortable because you've done it all and then ready to think about who you are and what you want to do and what kind of stamp you want to leave on the school individually and as a class. So, yeah, I think sophomore year is the best year of high school.

You know, I know that you even took advocacy beyond our school when you appeared on WKYC News and in a segment about digital detox. Right. What was that experience like being on television and kind of sharing that message with the broader community? It was fun.

It was fun to get to go to the studio and get to be like a celebrity for a day. They like they do your hair and makeup and you feel really cute. And then they ask you questions. I love talking about digital detox.

I think it's something that is so hard and so necessary. So that was a good conversation to kind of prompt people to have ways to mindfully use technology, like use the technology time that you have in a way that is most beneficial and not as mindless and receptive as we tend to use it for our, you know, scrolling and things that are not so helpful. But it was a good conversation. Can you talk a little bit about that digital detox?

And I mean, I find myself doing scrolling. Yeah. But then it's like I say I want to get rid of it, but I can't lose that connection to like my friends and, you know, all that. So can you talk a little bit about the digital detox and what that means?

So for me, it is just first step is being really mindful about when you're using your phone and why there will be times that I'll look down. I'm like, I have my phone in my hand. Why? I'm the TV is also on.

I'm in the middle of a conversation and I'm doing. Why did I pick this up? Do I really need to have this? It becomes kind of just like a comfort.

Of, OK, I'm going to sit down and relax and I need my phone to be able to do that. And there are times when that I think is appropriate. It is helpful in kind of clearing your mind in some ways, but that has to end and you need to be able to refocus in some other positive direction. So to me, it is being able to learn skills to quiet yourself, to recenter yourself that are away from your phone and just being really mindful of using it.

So like there was a time. Last year that I deleted TikTok because I had realized I was just spending if I looked at TikTok after 8 p.m., I was going to look up and it would be 1130 because I just could not stop the loop of, oh, that's interesting. That's interesting. And so I needed to take a break.

And the same thing now, you know, then you get into Instagram reels or things like that. You just need to be able to give yourself an awareness that this is not always the best use of my time. I'm not really getting as much out of this as I think I might be getting. And what could I fill my time with instead of this that would be more valuable?

And I think a lot of kids would say, like, why? Like they get all their stuff done. It's like, why can't I just be on my phone? So it's like, well, like, why do kids need that digital detox?

So they're because you need to have a variety of pastimes in your life. You need to have a variety of interests that you know that you don't become good at something if you just, you know, do it once. You need to practice things. So maybe.

That's listening to music and not looking at videos. Maybe that's reading, which, of course, I love to do. But I know some of some of the students have that is not one of their favorite pastimes. But being outside, just talking to people in a conversation where you're not saying, oh, let me show you something or let me look at something that I saw earlier.

Being present in moments away from technology is hugely valuable to all of us. You know, U.S. is one of. One of U.S.'s biggest aspects is their community. And, you know, U.S. is a pretty cool system to build community in our sponsor system, where most of teachers and administrators have a sponsor group that they get to kind of mentor.

And it's comprised of multiple different grades. What do you kind of think of the sponsor system? Can you kind of explain it real quick? And what kind of mentoring or help do you believe that creates?

So I think the sponsor system is amazing. At first, when I started working here, I was like, wait, now what else do I have to do? I have to eat lunch with boys and talk to them about something for four years. That was a little that was new to like wrap my head around.

But that has become one of the best parts of this job is to develop those kinds of close relationships with with boys and with their families. I've had four brothers in a family and get to know a family for 20 years that way. That's an incredible way to have a relationship with people. And it's an incredible way to get to walk alongside a boy throughout his whole journey, that like uneasy moments of being a freshman and then being able to celebrate when they graduate.

Now, I love the kinds of conversations that you can have because of the trust that you've built, because of the relationships that you've built and the kind of camaraderie that you get from the group as a whole, like all being together. So I love the sponsor system. Well, what do you think are some of those things that you've learned from the boys? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I think I've learned a lot from the boys when you're at lunch or just talking in general, like I'm sure you've learned a lot of things. But what is maybe one thing that you've learned overall from being around the boys so much? I've learned a ton about fantasy football.

So that has been very beneficial. I've learned the things that they that they care about, the kinds of relationships that they think are valuable with their friends, with their teachers here, with different peers at different schools, with their parents. You learn a lot about people around that lunch table, especially, again, if you have brothers, it's kind of like family dinner with, you know, whatever family you're sitting with. And it's just a unique role of being a mentor, but also being, you know, somebody who is not responsible for giving you grades as your sponsor.

I'm not responsible for telling you, you know, that you well. I am responsible for telling you you need to do your homework and that you need to fulfill all of your obligations. But you you're able to do it in a way that is less consequential and more supportive. You know, if you could change one thing about education or kind of the school system in general, especially here, U.S., what would you change?

You know, it could be something in how we maybe structure the school day, how we use technology, how we measure success, anything. What would you have done differently if you could change one thing at U.S.? Oh, that's such a good question. I I wish we could go back and redo some things like I think that you learn and grow and gain so much perspective as you go through your time here.

It would be great to be able to circle back and give you guys another day, another chance in the middle school for a day, another chance at the lower school and the Shaker campus for a day, another chance to go through all of your freshman year classes for a day to to remember who you were at that time. To. Examine the things that you are examining with fresh eyes at that time. I think that you get the opportunity to do that as our curriculum grows and changes.

But I just think that there's such value in appreciating how far you've come and how much you've learned and how much you've grown that we don't have time for because we're at such a rapid pace. So I don't I don't know how to make more time. I'm fine with lengthening the school year. I know you guys don't.

I'm going back. So kind of your role as librarian, you also are in control of the archives. What is some of your I mean, I'm sure you read about some traditions that we don't still have, but also the ones we do have in kind of that history. What are some of your what is I guess we'll go with one your favorite tradition that we have here at U.S.?

So the my favorite tradition that we still do here at U.S. is the the handshake, the first day and the last day handshake. I think that's so special. I think it's really. Meaningful, especially the last one, when you get to see one one more time face to face, one on one, all of the people who you've been alongside for sometimes four years or sometimes three or one.

I just think that is such an incredible, reflective moment. U.S. when it started, we had such a strong tradition of writing. So oldest school paper in the nation. The record used to be a hugely popular.

Endeavor that so many people did part took part in. That's one thing that I wish we we had more ways for kids to express themselves through writing or that that was still a way that kids felt called to express themselves. It's like it's like this, like this podcast is an amazing way for you guys to express yourselves and to be reflective and show more about who you are in the school. And when you have awesome new things.

Then some of the older things kind of fall away. And that's one that I'm a little nostalgic for. I wish we did more writing, you know, kind of speaking of traditions, you yourself has contributed to our school traditions. You know, I remember last year you gave the Thanksgiving speech assembly assembly, which is by far one of my favorite speeches.

And you kind of shared why were you not like why you were thankful not only for some of the good times, but even some of the more challenging moments once inspired you to kind of emphasize gratitude for challenging that speech. And why do you kind of hope students. Like really look at the gratitude in both ways. And what do you hope they take away from that message?

Well, I hope people remember that or think about gratitude in the framework of it's not it's not always easy. You have to work at being grateful. And we all have things to be grateful for. I used a quote in that speech by Tecumseh that's really meaningful to me about finding gratitude every day.

And if you can't find gratitude, the fault lies. The fault lies within you. So it to me means that you you have to be accountable for your own ability to look at the world with thankful eyes to be able to see the blessings that you have and to acknowledge that we are all undeserving of blessing and yet we have them. And so that's really powerful to say, I am grateful.

I'm grateful just to wake up every day. I'm grateful that it's sunny. I'm grateful that it poured. I'm grateful that I get to be a.

Part of all of those things, because there are some people don't. Some people don't. And soon I won't. Every day is every day is something to be grateful for.

Well, Mr. Lurie, how do you hope you know, I know each student will remember you definitely when they graduate from U.S. I know all of us will be grateful for you. But what do you want your lasting impact to be on the students who pass through here?

I, um, I hope I just I hope the boys and men who graduate from. Here remember how, um, how much I loved them, how much I enjoyed getting to spend four years with every single person that went through here. Um, I've been touched by some amazing students in my 22 years at this school, some that I still think about every day, some that I think are the best people that I've ever met, some that are in this school now, who I think are the best people that I've ever met. Um, so I hope that I can be remembered as somebody that, um.

Just appreciated people, appreciated our time together and was, um, somebody who was kind and loving to them. You know, what advice would you give to students here at U.S. right now? You know, perhaps something about making most of the time, most of their time in high school or a life lesson you really want them to carry as they grow up. I know you've heard this before, but it goes by so fast.

It goes by so fast. You guys are juniors already. It's halfway over. And it seems like it was just the blink of an eye.

So that, that's, I think what I hope that, um, everybody remembers is that these are four very short years. And by the end, you're going to be ready to go and you'll want to get out of here and that's good and appropriate, but it's also four years to really cherish. You don't get these back. You don't get to redo as much as I would like to have you redo some of it.

You don't get another try at high school and they're really special years. Even the bad days are really special days. So I just want people to hold on to it as much. Um, well, I just want to ask you one unique question.

You've been here for 22 years, you said, so you can answer this one. Um, I think something that may obviously each senior class and each grouping of the four classes together creates a unique culture and brotherhood. Um, but I think back to the classes that I've seen, like the class of 2023, who many people talk about is like one of the most successful at creating that brotherhood and that pride in the school. What have you seen?

Um, that the most successful classes have kind of brought, um, that has created that brotherhood and that success as a class. That, yeah, that class of 23 was really special. And I think it was because they really loved each other and they really loved being here and they really loved being together. I saw that on the stage this year with the seniors at our pep rally.

Like I, the pep rally last Friday was really fun and I could feel how much they loved being here. How much they loved being together. And I think that's what it takes that you have to be able to put aside the bad math grade. You have to be able to put aside the impending homework and just say, these are, these are my friends and I want to experience everything I possibly can with them and take care of everybody.

You know, those guys had a group chat that had every single kid in their class in it and they wanted everybody to feel included. And so we all did, even though we weren't seniors that year. I think that was a way that they. Um, made themselves unique in bringing us all along for the fun that they were having.

You know, before we wrap up, we always like to end with the same question and that is what motivates you to do what you do? You know, Ms. Ellery, tell us what, what is your why after all these years and all the roles you've taken on and the countless number of people that you've positively impacted at this school? What is it that can really continues to drive and, uh, continues to just keep on going every day?

Um, I'm, I'm a person. I'm a person of strong faith. And so to me, my role here is just to love and appreciate the people who come into my orbit to learn as much as I can from them and to hopefully teach them what I know and what I can share, um, to, uh, just to take care of people. That's what I think is our, all of our roles here is to take care of one another.

And so that's what motivates me is to treat people with as much kindness as I have, even if it's hard for me. And even if it's hard for them, um, and, and to make sure that people know when they're around that I, that they matter, they're important. Well, Ms. Ellery, it has been great having you on the show today.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your insights and experiences with us and to our listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in and we'll hope you join us next Wednesday for the next episode of Late Start Show. Thank you. Thanks guys.