Making an impact one student at a time.
Steven Phillips has been voted as Livewire 2024 Teacher of the Year. It is his second time winning the title, the first being in 2021. He has become known as an incredibly caring and helpful figure throughout East, leaving an impact on any student who enters his classroom.
He first came to East at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Coming in from a different school district was very impactful for him, especially trying to know his new students virtually while teaching them math online.
Phillips was first inspired to teach by his Algebra 1 teacher and soccer coach in high school. “They just really took me underneath their wings. They knew I cared about school and cared about being successful, but maybe didn’t have 100% intellect or full 100% athletic ability, but they knew I wanted it in both avenues during my four years,” Phillips said. They served as guiding figures for him throughout his formative years, and Phillips wanted to be that type of person for other kids. “I can help kids get to where they want to be whether it’s sports, clubs, activities, academics and just making it through those most transformative years,” Phillips said.
Although winning the Teacher of the Year award during his first year at East was an honor for him, it feels much different winning it this year since he is able to physically be in person with all of his students. “The first time winning was really like a shock in the sense of how few kids I knew, but they had an amazing impact on me. And I think I was having a good positive impact on them because of COVID,” Phillips said.
His role at East has also changed and developed throughout the time he has been there. When he arrived at East, teacher Christi Abshire helped guide him through his first year at the school. Now, he has become the leader of the Algebra 1 PLC and feels a lot more confident teaching concepts that he was not able to teach at his former school.
Phillips plans to stay a math teacher but has considered teaching higher-level math. “I have talked to higher-level math teachers and I do plan on attempting. I can’t guarantee it but I do plan on attempting taking my praxis and being able to teach higher-level math classes. The problem is, I really love Algebra 1,” Phillips said. Even though teaching harder levels of math may be a potential possibility in the future for him, Phillips enjoys his current subject greatly because he is able to teach freshmen students.
Although he has been at East for over three years now, his teaching goals still haven’t changed. “I’m just going to keep helping kids until I’m retired from this profession,” Phillips said. His main focus now is encouraging students to challenge themselves while also assisting the ones who may need extra help with understanding certain concepts. “Now what I’m trying to do is while remediating, while teaching the content that’s necessary, pushing the rigor for kids that already know what they’re doing,” Phillips said. At this point in his career, he finally feels like he can challenge his students more to enrich their knowledge, even if they are not interested in algebra.
Phillips has also been nominated to speak at the baccalaureate for the class of 2024. They were the first class he ever taught at East, so many were not surprised that he received the nomination. “It’s been so motivating to have these experiences but it’s not necessarily the winning or the nominating. It’s just the kids’ reactions to me. It’s what motivates me every day,” Phillips said. His impact at East has been incredibly positive, with many students becoming more optimistic about school because of him.
