April Norby

Secondary Department Head, Visual Art

​​From a young girl I have always been passionate about the arts. I received a BFA from SUNY Purchase in 2001 and migrated from the east coast to SLC a year later. I began my teaching career in 2006 at UMOCA, co-teaching the KidsmART and ARTbytes programs. These programs brought students from the SLC school district, as well as children from at-risk situations such as The Road Home, to the museum to look at, talk about, and make art. In 2007 I started teaching at Bad Dog Arts, a non-profit arts organization, and eventually moved into the role of Programs Coordinator. In this position I focused on bringing arts programming into Title I schools as well as offering various art opportunities for all ages in our community. I was fortunate to be hired on as the Secondary Art Teacher at Elizabeth Academy in 2022. 

I believe in the importance of art education to foster creativity, self awareness, and perseverance as well as to help develop critical thinking, confidence and creative problem solving skills. I strive to inspire my students to find their individual art language and nurture their creative journey along the way.

Therapy Staff

Hear From Our Community

I especially appreciate the school’s focus on the whole child, which includes social skills development, in vivo problem-solving, community and service experiences, the arts, and practical living skills among so many other things! Most importantly, our children LOVE their school and literally gush about it anytime someone asks them.

Words cannot express the respect and gratitude I have for Elizabeth Academy. Our children’s experience (six years thus far) at both schools has been outstanding.

Our girls have attended Elizabeth Academy for six years now, and we can’t imagine sending them anywhere else for school. The individual attention and caring, collaborative environment at EA have been so good for both of them and we love the holistic Montessori approach to education. We also greatly appreciate all the efforts of the administration and teachers to provide our girls the ability to go to school safely during the pandemic. It has been a lifesaver for our family.