Catching up with Salisbury graduate Sara Fischer

Catching up with Salisbury graduate Sara Fischer


What is your full name?

Sara Fischer (I kept my maiden name.)


When did you graduate from Salisbury?

2007


Tell us about your life since high school.

After I graduated from Temple in 2011, I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Fulbright Grant which allowed me to live and work in Valencia, Spain for a year. While there, my primary jobs were to teach English at a trilingual elementary school and conduct comparative research on Special Education legislation between the U.S. and European Union. Living in Spain also made it easy to travel around Europe so I was able to visit many different places and learn a lot.  I moved back to the states in July 2012 and have been working for a network of 45 schools in New York City ever since. Between 2012-2017, I taught kindergarten, second grade, and third grade. I also got my M.Ed from Penn State during that time. In 2017 I transitioned into school leadership and held a variety of administrative roles. Now, I work for the same network of schools, but develop curriculum and train school leaders and teachers on how to implement it. I also got married in 2017. My husband, Brian, works for Rockstar as a Senior Technical Animator - he develops and codes games like Grand Theft Auto. We have a Black Lab named Pilot. We frequently travel and have been fortunate enough to visit many countries. The coolest places we most recently visited were Sweden, South Africa, Peru, and Colombia. 


What are your summer plans?

We were supposed to go to Mexico City and London in the last few months and then a trip with my family in July, but those have rightfully been postponed given the state of things right now. The only plans I have right now are to see Lady Gaga on her Chromatica Tour at MetLife in August and potentially visit my sister in Dallas, but we’ll see what happens!


What have you learned through this pandemic?

Apart from the personal lessons I think everyone has learned, I’m really interested in educational equity and have learned massive amounts about how the scope of education in America could change. Part of my work over the past few months has been thinking creatively and in a solutions-oriented manner to consider how to solve large-scale issues that affect future generations of kids, but I certainly don’t pretend to have the answers! 


What was your favorite high school memory?

I have many great memories, but going to Pennsylvania Governor’s School in the summer between 11th and 12th grade was definitely a highlight. 


What is your favorite movie or TV show and why? 

Probably Parks and Rec or Brooklyn Nine Nine. I like shows that are light and I also think the casts of both are hilarious. 


How is your younger sister Lauren doing?

She’s doing well! She graduated from Pitt in 2015 and was working for the Pittsburgh Pirates in their events department for a bit before she moved to Dallas to work for the events team for the Cowboys. It’s ironic she works there because obviously my family members, especially my dad, are huge Eagles fans, so she initially didn’t want to tell us she was interviewing there! Regardless, she’s doing really well and has been the POC for huge events at the stadium - she’s even credited on Taylor Swift’s Reputation tour. We’re very proud of her. 


If you could meet anyone (alive or dead), who would you choose and why?

Coco Chanel. She’s classy. I admire her work ethic, perseverance, and how she built an empire independently in a time when women didn’t really have a seat at the table. She’s a pioneer in that way. I also admire Anna Wintour for the same reasons. 


Who is your role model and why?

It sounds trite, but probably my parents. They worked extremely hard in life to get where they are and give us a really good life. They were also very direct and honest with us and never sugarcoatted anything. 


#yoursalisbury