Teacher, 1986-2014
Dora Lee was a Chemistry teacher at HKIS from 1986 to 2014.
One of her students, Jason Liu ’07, said, “Mrs. Lee’s no-BS attitude showed me how to adapt quickly, and what it takes to be a good science-focused thinker.”
Another student, Martin Ong ’12, remembers Dora as being “truly caring of her students’ success and an inspirational figure.”
Adrian Price, a former HKIS colleague of Dora who is now a Chemistry teacher at Singapore American School, commented, “Dora is a wonderful educator whose passion for helping her students learn was clearly visible to everyone, most importantly her students. She spent countless hours preparing classes and going that extra mile for her students. Her devotion to them was inspiring. She was often there, working with students until after 6 p.m. most nights, and then when they left she would work to make sure she was prepped for the next day, every five minutes accounted for in class. As a colleague, she was truly top-shelf. Always ready to smile and laugh or to lend a shoulder to someone who was struggling. She had high standards for herself and that inspired those around her, colleague and student alike. Her students knew when they signed up for AP Chemistry with Mrs. Lee that she was going to make them work.”
Another former HKIS colleague, Rosann Kao, who was College Counselor from 2001 to 2011, recalled, “There was no fooling around in her class. She was so devoted to understanding science that the kids knew: Don’t sign up for that class unless you really want to learn! What brought us together was our focus on individual students, especially the ones who were trying to get it but were having problems. Dora would ask me, ‘What’s going on with this student?’ She was consistently nurturing and caring. Dora does not give up on kids.”