For senior Sophie Flom, teaching seemed like the obvious choice for her future career path. With both parents being teachers, they taught her the value of being an educator at a young age. “It allowed me to see the more behind the scenes part of what goes into teaching,” she says.

 “I think a lot of people assume that they understand what it takes to be a teacher just because they’ve been in school before. There’s so much that happens outside of the classroom that people don’t consider.” She says things like lesson planning, meeting with parents, and communicating with other teachers are all big factors she has been able to see up close. This has helped her understand the whole aspect of being a teacher rather than what kids just see at school. 

Even though her parents have helped her find her passion for teaching, she has always felt that teaching is meant for her. So, when she was finally old enough to get a job it only seemed natural to choose to work with kids. For the past two years, she has worked at the Lifetime childcare center. 

Working at Lifetime has helped prepare her for what teaching may bring, both the good and the bad. “It’s really fun to create relationships with the kids and their families but you also learn how hard some kids can be,” she says. With the possibility of teaching elementary students in the future, working with kids so often has helped give her good real world experience. 

While Flom loves all subjects in school she says she wants to focus on teaching her favorite, Spanish. “Spanish has always kind of come naturally to me and been really fun. It’s a good way to communicate with more people and learn about more cultures.” She hopes to either teach ELL (English Language Learners) for elementary students or become a middle or high school Spanish teacher after college. 

She hopes going to college will be the perfect stepping stone for her future. Flom will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the next four years starting in the fall. With her love for the campus, the school’s amazing Spanish and education programs, big social scene, and large amounts of school spirit it “overall just made sense…I’m really excited.”

Flom’s passion for helping and educating others doesn’t just stop at her love for kids. Over the summer, Flom was able to be involved with Steve Cwodzinski’s campaign for Minnesota State Senate reelection. After an EPHS teacher reached out to Flom about the opportunity, she says she was immediately interested. 

Being interested in the political process for many years made her want to see more of a behind the scenes look at what it is really like. “It seemed like a good opportunity to have a more hands-on approach at putting someone in office who I think deserves to be there.” Working with like-minded people on a project they were all invested in was a rewarding experience for her. 

Flom is involved with her extracurricular activities just as much as she is with the rest of her endeavors. Throughout high school Flom has been involved in multiple clubs and sports but is currently most active in National Honor Society and is part of the girls badminton team. 

Badminton is her favorite right now as it gives her a good opportunity to hang out with friends and get exercise. The sport is lower stress than others she has previously been involved in but there is a good balance between fun and hard work. “We always have a lot of fun but we still practice hard so you can see yourself improving; it’s really rewarding.” 

Outside of her busy schedule Flom most enjoys listening to music (specifically SZA, Daniel Caesar, Frank Ocean, and Issac Dunbar), hanging out with her friends, going on runs, reading, and shopping. It’s safe to say Flom’s future is full of learning, excitement, and helping others.