Some teachers will admit that at some point in their lives they didn’t intend to become a teacher, and that is the case for Ms. Shirley Kim.

The University of Maryland and Eleanor Roosevelt High School have a long-standing partnership in which UMD students seeking to be educators have the opportunity to intern at ERHS, gaining real world experiences and the ability to learn from a unique perspective.

Ms. Kim, a graduate student at UMD, did not go the “traditional route,” as she put it. “I went to Montgomery College and then I dropped out,” she said. Around the age of 26, she went back to continue her education at Montgomery College. She then “transferred from Montgomery College to the University of Maryland at College Park,” where she studied “English and a little bit of secondary education.” Now, as a graduate student at UMD, she is a part of the program for secondary education.

Teaching wasn’t what Ms. Kim had envisioned she would do. “I did not know what I wanted to do for a really, really long time,” she said. “I didn’t know what to do with an English degree.”

Becoming a teacher seemed like a “practical” path to take. But as she furthered her study she discovered that teaching was “fitting,” due to her “care for learning and people.”

Ms. Kim is being mentored by English teacher and AP Capstone Program Coordinator Mr. Troy Bradbury, who said she has “progressed right along schedule.” Mr. Bradbury, who has mentored student teachers for 15 years, also added that “she’s doing well and will be ready to take over classes soon.”

Due to the commute from Montgomery County, Ms. Kim was hesitant to intern at ERHS. “But after I met [Mr. Bradbury] I was sure I wanted to intern here.” Before coming to ERHS, she admitted to not hearing much about the school. She described her first reaction as “excited,” as she learned more about “the school and what programs [Mr. Bradbury] led.”

Senior Johnny Warner, a student in Mr. Bradbury’s 7th period class, had high praise for Ms. Kim and said, “Overall she seems invested and cares about what she is doing, and to me, being passionate about what you do is important.”

Since interning at ERHS, Ms. Kim said she has discovered that “learning to teach is in a lot of ways fighting against yourself, because it’s learning to understand what is really important. Sometimes we hold on to these ideas of what’s important. It’s the constant coming out of yourself in order to do what’s right for the students. In the same light, the way that we teach the lessons, you have to come outside of yourself and think about how it’s going to make sense to the students. It’s the constant battle against self in order to be the best teacher you can be for the students.”