Brief Biography:

‍Sonya was born and raised in Park City, Utah. During her undergraduate years at Hillsdale College, she worked as a summer camp counselor and took Dr. David Diener’s Philosophy of Education class. It was through this class and her summer work during the pandemic that Sonya realized the importance of education and the need for a proper education. After graduating, she moved back west to Portland, OR where she currently is the Upper School Science Teacher at St. Stephen’s Academy.

Extracurricular Academic Activities:

‍Outside of teaching, I also fill in the role of College Adviser, offer AP Biology tutoring, and help coach the high school women’s basketball team.

What brought you to Hillsdale?

‍I came back to Hillsdale because of the genuine commitment that the people in this program, both students and professors, have for pursuing timeless truths. The people around me go beyond mere knowledge of what is good, true, and beautiful and seek to incorporate what we are learning into their own lives. This program is not just a means to an end like other teaching degrees might be but is a way for us to become better people so that we can lead in our schools. I look forward to classes where my peers and professors share their own classroom and personal struggles or achievements where they have put into practice what we have read about. In short, the people here inspire me to be a better person, teacher, and leader.

What has been your greatest academic challenge thus far?

‍My greatest academic challenge thus far has been balancing my full-time teaching position and the academic rigor of this program. It is challenging to think of my day-to-day lesson plans and mentorship roles as a teacher and my weekly philosophy readings and potential research paper topics as a student. It has brought about empathy for my own students and taught me to find solace in my human limits.

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