For EDLF student Lori Bellitti, a particular science class and a Pink Floyd song inspired her into a teaching career. “I had always hated science,” said Bellitti, “until I had a science class where the teacher told us that if we memorized everything he said, we would get a good grade in the class. I really had to work in that class. It was hard, but that was when I first really dedicated myself to learning and when I learned to love science. I became grateful for knowledge.”

Bellitti had originally planned on nursing, but after taking classes decided that nursing wasn’t right for her. “I figured out that I wanted to work with people, but not with blood,” she explained.

With her career plans changing and with a newfound love of learning and education, Bellitti was shocked into action when she first heard the lyrics to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall Part II.” “It made me so mad!” Bellitti said. “The lyrics to this popular song were saying ‘We don’t need no education,’ and ‘Teacher, leave those kids alone.’ I heard it and I thought, ‘That’s not how people should think of education. I’m going to be a teacher, and I’m going to teach students to love learning.’”

With the decision made, Bellitti never looked back. She graduated from the MSE with a BS in elementary education in 1982 and taught 4^th and 6^th grades before starting a family—six kids and two grandkids, whom she describes as the “joy of her life”—and since then she has taught at Geneva Elementary in Orem and Rocky Mountain Elementary in Provo, where she currently teaches 4^th grade as the Teacher on Special Assignment (TSA).

Bellitti has now returned to the McKay School as an EDLF student to continue the education that she loves. “I felt the time was right to go back and get my Masters, and I knew that BYU was where I wanted to be,” she said, “It’s like coming home.”

7 March 2012