Have you seen the new 5’2, ginger colored hair teacher around? You can find her in room 4005M. When you walk into her room, you’re greeted by a warm smile and feel a sense of comfort and ease. You can tell it’s going to be a good year with this teacher. Her name Liz Hardy, and she’s the new graphic design teacher. Here’s an inside look at her life in and outside of East High School.

What was your childhood like?
“I grew up in Beaverdale, Iowa. Growing up, my childhood was a lot of fun. My mom was an art teacher, so we spent a lot of our summers in her art room, you know playing around, making mischief and it was a great childhood for sure. My dad had a lot of different jobs like equipment maker, wood worker, things like that” Hardy said.
In Hardy’s childhood she had to overcome some challenging obstacles but that never got in the way of her pursuing her goals in life.

“In my childhood, I was dyslexic , and I also had ADD and at that time it really wasn’t addressed the way it is now so school was hard for me for sure, so I took a lot of summer school” Hardy said.
What was college like?

“I loved college I first went to the art institute of Colorado where I got my bachelor’s degree in Ashlar design did that for a few years then I got my second bachelor’s degree at upper Iowa where I was taking night classes and subbing during the day. Hopefully I can get my masters I figured out I way I could study that really fit the way think which is good,” Hardy said.

Tell me a little bit about your family?
Hardy has an older brother who is a veterinarian surgeon. She also has a five-year old daughter named Judy. Hardy is married to her husband Thomas Hardy, who she met at a restaurant while visiting family.
“I do have a husband and I met him when I moved back to Iowa from Colorado. I came to visit my family and he worked at a restaurant at the time, and I thought he was cute, but I lived in a different state so when I moved back here, I thought “I’m going to find that guy” and I did, then I asked him out on a date and the rest is history” Hardy said.

Knowing that this is your first year of teaching what was your job before coming to East High?
“I had a lot of different jobs in Colorado as a designer I helped design mannequins for large retail companies and that was a lot of fun I really enjoyed that” Hardy said.

Hardy also worked as a furniture designer, cosmetic designer and a designer Snapple and their bottles
“I worked as a contractor so, it was kind of stressful because you had to apply for those jobs but, at the end I was working for a company called Tensentric it was a medical design company that was strait laced, and I had a beautiful office working there” Hardy said.

Then Hardy thought about it and knew that this path she was on just wasn’t for her.
“It just wasn’t for me; it was hard to give it up because I worked so hard for it but at the same time, I couldn’t imagine continuing with that and being unhappy…”

After Hardy left her last job, she did a few more things.

“…I worked for Whole Foods a little bit, I was the buyer for the supplement section, then I transferred to the West Des Moines store. Once I had my daughter, Judy, I didn’t really want to work until later. I then worked with kids that had profound needs and I loved it. Then I went back to school for me education degree,” Hardy said.

Lastly how has it been working here at East?
“I love it, when I was applying for different jobs, I knew I wanted to work here. This was the only school that had student on their interview panel, and I think that’s so important because you guys should have a say in who your teacher are. I loved that aspect,” Hardy said.