Elyse Hambacher, daughter of Miami Lakes residents Lily Lee and Mark Hambacher, is currently a professor of Community and Culture in Education at the University of New Hampshire following a long string of achievements. Hambacher was born in Hialeah, and in 1984, she and her family moved to Miami Lakes.
She attended Miami Lakes Elementary and Miami Lakes Middle School. In 2001, she graduated from the International Baccalaureate Program at North Miami Senior High School. Following her high school graduation, she earned a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education at the University of Florida and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Teaching from the Teachers College at the Graduate School of Education at Columbia University.
After receiving her master's degree, Hambacher taught fourth grade in Miramar. She later joined the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program and taught English to K-8 students for the Kumamoto City Board of Education in Japan.
A year later, she returned home to pursue her Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Florida in 2009 and graduated in the summer of 2013. Hambacher is now teaching at the University of New Hampshire.