A new social studies teacher now walks the halls of LZ,  after graduating from the University of Illinois in 2015. Describing herself as, “a sarcastic, klutzy, silly teacher” who still watches “Spongebob, Saturday mornings like clockwork,” her passion for teaching runs longer than her height of 4 feet and 11 inches.

“I love when I am teaching the kids and I can see on their faces when they get something,” Kim Ferraro, social studies teacher, said. “I feel like I can relate to them in a sense that when I was in high school, I struggled, but I had teachers that could always support me with it. When I see the kids recognize that they finally got it, I love that. I love watching their faces, those are the most rewarding part of the job. I hope to have those all the time, but when a kid has been working their butt off and they finally get it, it’s totally worth it.”

Seeing students understand the lesson makes Ferraro realize she made the right decision in going into teaching, even if the decision was made at a very young age, she said.

“I was an oddball, I wanted to be a teacher since I was five years old. That’s actually the only career choice I ever wanted to do,” Ferraro said. “Immediately with the start of high school it was social studies. I love social studies, I gravitated towards it. I find it easy to make connections to what’s going on today in society. From taking our course I hope students have a better understanding of what’s going on in a more modern sense. I like current events, I like politics, I like knowing what’s going on and social studies is a good mean for that.”

Social studies is the driving point of Ferraro’s passion, but it also allows for the chance to be an aid to others, she said.

“One of the main reasons I wanted to become a teacher is because I love being in a position to help others,” Ferraro said. “I loved my teachers that I had. One of the reasons I loved them so much is that one of my favorite teachers basically never told me I couldn’t do anything. I really loved and appreciated that and I want to do the same for my students.”

Ferraro views her freshmen year social studies teacher as a mentor and hopes to be invested with students as he was with her, she said.

“Almost everyday in class she asks, at least me personally, two times if I understand what we are talking about,” Deanna Gambino, senior student of Ferraro, said. “She really car[es] and makes sure we understand what is going on. If we don’t understand what we are talking about she will go around class in little groups and ask, ‘Do you guys understand what’s going on?’ It’s really awesome.”

Ferraro uses her past experiences and closeness in age to the students as a way to connect and help them, she said.

“Being a younger teacher I can relate to many of the experiences that students are going through,” Ferraro said. “I recently went through many of those, like going through the college [application] process. That wasn’t too long ago for me. I lecture my seniors when it comes to taking notes, I don’t care what you write down. The professor isn’t going to care what you write down. You need to know what you need to know. I try to give them lessons that will be pretty attainable for them soon.”

Ferraro can share these common experiences of college since she is currently teaching a government class which consists of seniors.

“Honestly I was a little bit nervous starting the year because I was like, ‘how are [seniors] going to be?’ They’re so much fun. The maturity level is a little bit higher, but I don’t know if I would say that to them,” Ferraro said. “I like that the seniors are really smart and quick and engaged about what is going on in the school and what’s happening. I can be really sarcastic, and they can pick up on it. My own personality is that I’m completely sarcastic so it doesn’t go over their heads.”

Expressing her personality to her senior students, it allows students like Gambino to get to know more about her.

“[Ferraro] is unique in the way how she interacts with us,” Gambino said. “She acts like a teenager and knows when we are being sarcastic and knows when we are joking around with her. She also knows when we need to get stuff done, so she has a good balance of being a kid still and an adult.”

To get to know more students, Ferraro hopes to become involved by helping coach in the Spring and see kids outside of the class, working on their extracurriculars, she said.

“I am excited to be more active outside of the classroom,” Ferraro said. “I just want to be around the school. I love what I teach, but there’s always more to that.”