The position of a freshman honors and junior college prep English teacher has been filled with a 2016 alum. 

Is Ms. Danielle Flores was hired over Christmas break and officially started on Thursday, Jan.5. The unexpected need to fill this position was able to be filled quickly with the help of vice principal, Ms. Lisa Melendez, who previously worked with Flores at East Chicago Central. 

“I decided to apply for this position because of Ms. Melendez,” Flores said.  “She contacted me before Christmas asking me to apply for the position so I decided to do so.” 

Despite the excitement to become a Warrior again, Flores said it was hard to leave the faculty and students at EC Central. However, she knew that she couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

“When I found out I got the job I was ecstatic because I love teaching English as it was my favorite subject all throughout high school,” she said. “I’ve always been super interested in writers such as Edgar Allen Poe, so I’m looking forward to teaching my juniors about him and his writings. Along with teaching students aboutEdgar Allen Poe, I’m excited to teach them about authors and works from the Romanticism era.” 

The curriculum for 9th grade and 11th grade English consists of both literature and language, so Flores plans to use her skills in those areas to help students succeed in those areas. She hopes that she can make learning fun and rewarding for everyone. She also hopes to teach students more than vocab, grammar, and other basic English curriculum. 

During her time at Noll she was a Drama Club member, a reporter for the journalism class and a competitor in the impromptu category for the Speech and Debate team. Out of all the extra curriculums she was involved in, 

she took a liking and passion for journalism. She thought about majoring in journalism but ultimately decided to go into English because writing classes were involved as an English major. Her deep passion for English has opened many new doors for her and continues to do so today. 

Junior Guadalupe Aguado says it’s been weird trying to get used to a new teacher halfway through the year but can tell that Flores is determined to engage students in learning and get them excited about English. 

“So far, I really enjoy her class as she engages us in the lessons we’re learning and doesn’t move along quickly,” she said. “She tries her best to go at a reasonable pace and is patient with students that are far behind. I can tell she genuinely cares about us and wants us to learn as much as we can this semester.” 

Flores says she’s felt nothing but welcomed coming late in the school year. With the positive environment and welcoming staff, the transition to schools has been much easier for her than expected. Even though she was an Alumni here, a lot has changed since she attended school here. New advancements in technology, new procedures and different rules. Despite all the changes that have been made in the past few years, she’s proven that she’s handling everything well. She said the biggest help in handling this big transition has been the teachers near her classroom that are more than willing to assist her on anything she needs help with. 

“Everyone has been super helpful, especially the staff. If I need assistance on something, I know I can go ask anyone and they’ll be happy to help,” she said. “It feels good to be back in the environment that I enjoyed so much as a student not too long ago.” 

Flores also says she has nothing but positive remarks to say about the students here.  

 “They’re all vocal and intelligent students. They’re very interested in learning

more which makes me very excited. I’m looking forward to teaching them more and preparing them for the next level ahead of them.”