Bio

Santa Fe native Lisa Blea-Ortiz brings 20 years of teaching experience and a love of language to her work at St. Michael’s. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Modern and Classical Languages from Colorado State University–Pueblo, along with endorsements in Bilingual Education and Teaching English as a Second Language. Lisa teaches Junior High Language Arts, encouraging students to grow as readers, writers, and communicators. She lives in Santa Fe with her husband, Juan Francisco Ortiz, and their dog, Brenda Juanita. Lisa values St. Michael’s for its strong Catholic identity and close community and hopes her students remember that language is a bridge to understanding others. She finds joy in guiding students to discover their voices and their confidence.