Ms. Lopez is a new history teacher for the Magnet program here at Huntington Park high school. She currently teaches US history, government and AP government, but has previously taught world history, AP human geography, economy, and AP US history.
Ms. Lopez attended UCI where she got her bachelor’s degree in sociology. Originally, she was a biology major with the intention of becoming a doctor in the future. Her plans switched after volunteering at a hospital where she realized she couldn’t bear to see people in pain or have the heart to deliver bad news to patients.
“I used to want to be a doctor because my parents wanted me to be a doctor and then I moved into teaching and they were just kind of like “that is a 180, where’s the plan?”
Though becoming a teacher was not always the plan, she got into the teaching field during her hunt for a job once she graduated from university. Ms. Lopez first got a job as a tutor for elementary school students, where she began considering becoming an actual teacher.
While she was a teaching assistant, her students encouraged her to become a teacher. Ms. Lopez decided to go into a program to get her teaching credentials after being convinced by her former students who will visit her after graduating.
“What inspired me to become a teacher was the students I have worked with.” stated Ms. Lopez.
This school year marks Ms.Lopez’s sixth official year of her teaching career. She believes the hardest part of teaching is introduction week. Her biggest challenge is introducing herself, which makes her dread the first days of school through her dislike of talking about herself.
Despite her challenges, her most enjoyable moments are creating her lesson plans. Ms. Lopez finds comfort in the fact that her students see her mistakes as human if her lesson plans aren’t perfect, unlike any other work environment where it is seen as unprofessional. She also loves to see her students share her excitement for history, up until she asks them to write about it.
Ms. Lopez has had various memorable moments in her teaching experience so far, one very special memory being during virtual learning with her former students of the class of 2022. Towards the end of that school year, each of her students read her a “thank you” letter to show their appreciation for her.
Outside of the classroom, Ms. Lopez is proud of her home garden where she works with carnivorous and desert plants as her main hobby. Her greatest accomplishment in the classroom is her ability to connect with her students in which she believes this makes a difference.
Adjusting to a new school was nerve wracking for Ms. Lopez, not knowing her way around campus or given more than a day to prepare before students came back to school.
Apart from having a hard time learning how the system on campus worked, she did feel very welcomed by the students and staff. Beside her classroom is Mr. Moreno, a teacher who she has previously worked with at her old school and views as a mentor as she adjusts to her new school environment.
Written by Daphne Hernandez, Features editor