From Howdy to Salam

Ambitious, authentic, and introverted, that’s how Dr. Miller would describe herself in 3 words. Stephanie Marie Miller, was born in Fort worth Texas on February 18th. Growing up in Texas, she attended and graduated from Texas Tech University, majoring in English. After graduating she received her masters in teaching and her doctorate last year in May. Dr.Miller previously taught and coached cheerleading at the same highschool she graduated from and gained an experience of what it is like to be a teacher where she learned. She taught and coached in Texas for 5 years, before moving to Dubai in August this year. In Dr.Miller’s 5 years of coaching cheerleading, her team made it to finals every year and in her third year of doing so, her team won third place. She takes great pride in the victories of her students and in honor of them, she has a honeycomb tattoo on her left arm representing their kindness and good sportsmanship they always held towards each other. 

Growing up, Dr. Miller did not like school and struggled in understanding what her path in life was supposed to be. Being friends with many overachievers encouraged her to start taking a dual English class where she was constantly surprised by her achievements. She started scoring incredibly high, and eventually decided to become an English major. Even though, early on in her education, she decided she did not want to become a teacher, her learning environment was filled with students who aspired to one day teach and she soon realized that her purpose in life was to do that too. Breaking the norm, she was the first in her family to attend college, and to receive a doctorate even though she never believed she could. Her education and accomplishments taught her that things will be hard but she is capable and that she can do anything she sets her mind to. 

Living in Dubai for one month now, Dr. Miller has felt the most at home when she is alone and able to mentaly “recharge” for another day of teaching. Joining the DAA community has been a really exciting experience for Dr. Miller as she felt that she could learn as well as teach. She explained, “Looking at how advanced technology is, I felt like I could learn a lot because that has not been my experience in my career, I have not been at a school that utilizes technology in that way and that’s very, you know, future thinking”. When applying to schools around Dubai, DAA was definitely her first choice because of the unique and futuristic atmosphere it possesses. Through her life and career in education, Dr. Miller is hoping to teach her students what she learned, that they are capable of more than they know, and that even though academics is important, being a good person is more important than anything else.

In her spare time outside classrooms, Dr. Miller enjoys reading (mostly, listening to audiobooks) and crostiching. Her favorite book is 1984 by George Orwell and her favorite author is Charles Dickens. Unlike most English teachers, Dr. Miller does not enjoy most classic pieces of writing and prefers to read books similar to Colleen Hoover ‘It Ends With Us’. Dr. Miller is also a huge foodie and enjoys indulging herself in cuisines of many different cultures, but would opt for Thai food if given the choice. In the broad picture, Dr. Miller is a vibrant soul who is fun and exciting to be around and we are very excited to welcome her to the DAA community.