Miss Karakostas

New to the school district this year is history and government teacher Miss Karakostas. However, Miss K, as her students like to call her, is not new to the area. She grew up in the Brecksville area and went to Kent State University for college. Aurora is her first official teaching job, however, she began her teaching journey at Solon as a student teacher. 

To begin, Miss K explained how her job at Aurora compares to her student-teacher job at Solon. She commented saying, “Aurora has been so amazing, I think the students are so lucky to go to school here because it creates an environment to grow and learn.” She is incredibly enthusiastic about guiding her students not only inside the classroom, but also outside. Miss K hopes that she doesn’t just teach her students history, but also life skills that they can take with them as they grow. 

Miss K teaches United States History and Government. Given this, she has a mix of sophomores and juniors. Being the history buff that she is, her favorite subject to teach is World History. Miss Karakostas is 100% Greek. She can speak it fluently and even write it. Hence, developing her love to learn about other cultures and how other countries work. However, she also loves teaching U.S. history and government here at Aurora. Consequently, her favorite topic to teach is the World Wars. She believes it was one of the most interesting time periods in history and can’t wait to teach that topic every year.  

I was curious to ask Miss K about how she developed an interest in teaching. She revealed that she knew she always wanted to be a teacher. However, she didn't know what kind. Miss K revealed that “I actually didn’t always want to be a history teacher, I thought for a very long time I wanted to be an early childhood and work with little kids; but as I grew up I grew very passionate about history.” When asking her if she has always been good at history, she replied; “Actually no, but I had an amazing teacher who helped me become a great history student.” 

I questioned one of Miss K’s students about her class and how she was a teacher. When I asked 11th grader, Wilson Brainaid who has her for government this year, he said, “Miss K is so enthusiastic about each topic she teaches and is just all around a funny person. One of my favorite teachers this year for sure.” Being a new teacher in a district like Aurora might be intimidating, however Miss Karakostas has fit flawlessly into the Aurora community. 

For fun, I was curious to hear who Miss Karakostas believed was the best president the United States has ever had. Knowing this is not an easy decision, I wanted to make her think. She then revealed, after a minute of thinking, she believed John F. Kennedy or Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

Finally, to close, one thing Miss K wants her students to know about her is that she’s here for her students: “I want them to succeed in my class and that I genuinely care about how they are doing. I think all my students know that, but I am here to always help them.” Miss Karakostas is simply over the moon to have an opportunity to teach at Aurora and her genuine nature is apparent to anyone who interacts with her. In only one month, she has made an imprint on her students and hopes to continue guiding them throughout the rest of the year.

By: Harrison Mullin