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Maui teacher Lisa Morrison offers her background as a cinematographer, student activities coordinator, and Hawaii State Teachers Association leader as she became HSTA’s secretary-treasurer on July 5.

Morrison attended Hubbell Elementary, Merrill Transitional (Middle) School and Roosevelt High School, all in her native city of Des Moines. She went on to earn her bachelor’s degree in English and teaching with minors in Italian and French from the University of Iowa.

She started her career as a private school teacher. Her first job was in northern California teaching a half-English, half-Italian position for a few years before transferring to Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood.

After her fifth year of teaching, she left the profession to attend graduate school at the University of Southern California where she studied broadcast journalism. Morrison then worked in production for 10 years on commercial projects and documentaries, including as a TV news producer as well as a cinematographer and editor for DVD releases. Morrison fell in love with Hawaii during a vacation here and relocated to Maui in 2009.

While she transferred her licensure to Hawaii from California, Morrison started her first job with the Hawaii State Department of Education as an educational assistant at Kihei Charter School. She then took a position as an eighth-grade math teacher at Maui Waena Intermediate for three years before serving as the student activities coordinator for six years.

After nine years at Waena Intermediate, Morrison decided to move on and now looks forward to starting her dream job this fall at Maui High. She’s joining the Arts and Communications Department where she’ll teach graphic design for sophomores and supervise media and fashion projects for seniors.