English and Advanced Via Individual Determination (AVID) teacher, Lori Polydoros, just released her latest young adult novel, “Quaker Chasers, 15 Women Rocking Earthquake Science,” which showcases women in S.T.E.M, geology, and geophysics.  

Polydoros has been a teacher for 30 years. She started off as an elementary teacher at Bellflower Elementary School then became a teacher at Lathrop Intermediate School where she was the AVID coordinator. She has also taught at Irvine Valley College (IVC) for the last five years and was recently awarded assistant professor of the year. 

She is currently teaching at IVC and has been teaching at Godinez Fundamental High School (GFHS) for seven years. 

Her journey as a teacher has been a wonderful experience but teaching was actually not her first choice. Her first choice was writing. She even majored in creative writing, journalism, and art. However, her mom suggested for her to be a teacher.

She refused to listen because, “you know how we don’t want to listen to our moms and do our thing,” said Polydoros.

After some time she considered her mom’s suggestion and became a substitute teacher.

Her job as a substitute teacher opened a new pathway for her. She enjoyed the concept of expressing herself in English and the idea of creation, especially how all her hard work can be shared with people. Being an English teacher allowed her to express herself verbally and in arts as well. 

Not only does she enjoy being an English teacher but an AVID teacher as well. She enjoys being a part of a family and teaching things she doesn’t teach in English. It helps her balance out her day.

Her favorite part about AVID is, “guiding people to reach their dreams” and in English “[she] loves getting to know students and being there for them even if they don’t learn about English, just knowing if they find learning cool, I know I’ve done something right.” 

Besides her journey as being a teacher, she has taken some time off to write.

On April 26, a book that Polydoros has been working on for three years will be released on Amazon.

With her 8th novel about to be published, Polydoros finally got a literary agent three years ago.

Polydoros’ book, “Quaker Chasers 15 Women Rocking Earthquake Science” is actually a book series. She got the idea from the Big One podcast about women in science that teaches young adults about earthquakes and really broadcasts women in S.T.E.M. 

Polydoros then wrote a proposal in a year and had an interview with a CalTech in Pasadena. After her research, she got into writing and would write several chapters everyday to finish the book in a month. 

The idea of writing and having it out to the public to be able to share it is what Polydoros enjoys.

The advice she gives to people who would want to pursue writing is, “have thick skin. Put your soul out there and be prepared to get rejected continuously.”

As April 26 gets closer, the hope is that the book will be a success. In the meantime, you can preorder her latest novel and check out her other seven books on Amazon anytime.