Sillampa attended Colby High School in Colby, Wisconsin, where she was active in student organizations and served as treasurer and historian of the school’s SkillsUSA-VICA chapter. Her documented family relationships include her mother, Sandra, and her father, Charles.
Sillampa studied physics at Indiana University Purdue University and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in the subject in 2006. Her later work in physics teaching and science education developed in connection with this academic background.
Sillampa’s professional work has centered on science and physics education. In 2007 she worked as a limited-term lecturer with the Division of Continuing Studies at Indiana University Purdue University and also taught physics at Concordia Lutheran High School. By 2012 and 2013, she was working as a teacher for Tri-Central Community Schools. These appointments document a career progressing from postsecondary lecturing and secondary-school physics instruction to public-school teaching.
Sillampa was associated with HASTI, an organization whose name is recorded in her membership history. During her high-school years she also participated in SkillsUSA-VICA and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship activities in Fort Wayne.
Sillampa’s documented immediate family connections are her mother, Sandra, and her father, Charles. A family obituary also identifies a Josie Sillampa as a grandchild of Walter G. Eloranta and Grace Eloranta and as the spouse of Caleb Miller.
