If you know Karen Davis, you know her baked goods.

“She makes a mean lemon bar,” science teacher Jacob Russo said.

Over the years, Davis has built up a rather impressive reputation for her snacks. As physics teacher and robotics co-advisor Stephen Hine puts it, they’ve made her “famous in the science department.”

But she is known for more than just her brownies — she’s established quite the name for herself as long-time physics teacher and robotics co-advisor. For all she’s put into her career at Los Altos High School, though, becoming a teacher was the last thing on Davis’ mind when she was entering the workforce.

“I was an engineer before I was a teacher,” Davis said. “But, right about the time I turned 40, I decided I wanted to do something that was a little more fulfilling — teaching.”

Davis has found that the career change was the right choice for her.

“I’ve never regretted moving from engineering to teaching,” Davis said. “Even though it’s longer hours than when I worked as an engineer, it’s been a lot more rewarding.”

Over her nearly two decades teaching at LAHS, has come to believe that “teaching the curriculum is only a small part of the job.” She hopes that beyond STEM knowledge, students take away social skills that help them be successful past high school.

“Part of being a teacher is showing students how to reach consensus on a design, how to be resilient when things don’t go well,” Davis said. “The biggest thing that I’ve taken away from teaching is that a big part of it is getting students ready to be successful in life.”

Her time working with students lends to her reputation as someone who is reliable and offers advice not only to her students but co-workers as well.

“Over the 10 years that I’ve been teaching with Davis, I could always ask her for help,” Hine said. “If I had a new idea, she was willing to listen. If I wasn’t sure how to go about a lab, I would go to her.”

Davis is a big team player — when necessary, she pushes herself to make things work for the science department as a whole. In one instance, she took on Advanced Placement (AP) Physics C when her coworker went on leave. In another, she filled teaching roles for biology, chemistry and physics in the same year.

“Davis will take on challenging schedules each year if there’s a need,” Russo said. “There’s been several years where she’ll fall on the sword for the department — she’s done that a lot. That’s something that’s really admirable.”

But her flexible nature doesn’t necessarily translate to leniency. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. According to Hine, she “holds all her students to a standard.”

“She’s big on the idea that students will rise to the occasion if you keep your expectations high,” Russo said.

“Davis can be strict at times, but that’s only to help us improve,” robotics member junior Lea Radovanovic said. “If you have genuine concerns, she’s a really great person to help you find a way around it.”

To Davis, what matters is seeing her students problem-solve and overcome barriers.

“It’s always exciting when kids have an ‘Aha!’ moment,” Davis said. “There’s a progression through the school year and it’s fun to have a new group of students every year and see how they improve. That’s what keeps me going.”

Of course, what she’s most known for is her commitment to the robotics team.

“I tell people this story,” Davis joked, “that I had only been a teacher for a year. And Mr. Randall, who had been doing it for 10 years, came to me and said, ‘I need you to do this or my wife will divorce me.’”

What Davis “naively” thought would be a relatively light commitment quickly became much more demanding. Robotics, a club at the time, was run by parents, and Davis turned it into a class. From there, Davis’ continued support for the robotics program culminated in the team’s first win at regionals in 2017.

“From there, success started happening,” Hine said. “We started getting more equipment, robotics grew into two classes, and this is the first year we now have three classes. She really started robotics’ ballooning growth.”

“She’s an important part of robotics — it wouldn’t be where it is right now without her,” robotics member senior Kevin Lee said.

As the advisor, she primarily works behind the scenes and deals with logistics and money. As robotics co-captain and senior Sophia Eckinger puts it, she takes care of what would be “crazy” for students to handle alone.

“The amount of personal time that she’s willing to spend supporting students is pretty remarkable,” Russo said. “There aren’t many people on campus who put in the extra hours that she does.”

As a team heavily focused on student leadership, it can be difficult to see the work advisors put in behind the scenes. Hine hopes that her retirement is an opportunity for people to take a moment and appreciate everything she’s done.

“It’s hard for students and the school community as a whole to know what actually goes into programs like robotics,” Hine said. “And so I think that’s the one thing that I hope people can recognize is that Davis has put so much into this program, more than what anyone would be able to visually see.”

Davis’ retirement is a bittersweet one — from baked goods to robots, she’s grown to be known as a respected teacher, co-worker and advisor who has left a profound impact on nearly two decades’ worth of students at LAHS.

“I honestly don’t know how things are gonna work without her,” Lea said. “She plays a cornerstone role and her contributions have been huge. We’re all going to miss her.”

“Davis has certainly left her mark on the school,” Russo said. “Whoever comes in and gets hired for her position has got some big shoes to fill.”