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Freshmen students show their love for teacher of the year, Ali Florek, by gathering around her poster to take a picture. PHOTO BY AADIL KHAN
Teacher of the Year Mrs. Fl rek Over ten years of teaching brings Mrs. Ali Florek to win teacher of the year for Crown Point High School
BY KATIE MAHLE [lead writer]
Teachers are what determine futures, they build kids from the ground up. Some teachers make huge impacts on their students because they invest in their students from the start. They know how to make a seemingly boring subject more exciting than expected. In order to determine the best of the best, we as a corporation have a Teacher of the Year Award. This years award goes to our very own cherished teacher, Mrs. Ali Florek. Her love for teaching began as a high school student here at Crown Point High School when she had a multitude of great English teachers, one being Rachele Raloff, who still teaches English and AP Seminar. “I had really good English teachers in high school. One of them is Mrs. Raloff, who works here now. She was my English teacher during my freshman year, and I think she was one of the reasons I really started loving English,” Florek said, “I credit her and some of my other English teachers for my love for English and just reading and discussing,” Florek said. She first started teaching 7th and 8th at Saint Mary’s in 2011 before coming to Crown Point High School in 2013 to teach English 9, Honors English 9 and Engage 9. Being Teacher of the Year can mean many different things for different people. For Florek, the love and support she received after hearing that she would be Teacher of the Year was beyond what she could have imagined. “We were in a staff meeting and it was announced. I was very surprised, and everyone in my