New teacher on the block

Eli Phillips

Eli Phillips

By Connor Latlip 

The Jag

Eli Phillips is a new math teacher at Blue Springs South.  

He graduated from the University of Central Missouri, where he got his degree in secondary math and high school education.  

Phillips grew up north of Kansas City, in Parkville, near the KCI Airport.  

This is his first year being a full-time teacher. He student taught at the freshman center. He wanted to teach at Park Hill high school because he went there in high school.  

“I thought that’s where I was going to teach, but when I started student teaching, I just realized I really liked the district.” he said. 

Before coming to the Blue Springs School District, Phillips was a substitute teacher for the Warrensburg School District.  

The reason that Phillips became a teacher was when he was in 6th grade, and he had a teacher named Mr. Wilson and he met him at the back-to-school night.  

Wilson asked Phillips, “What is your favorite subject?”  

“English.” Said Phillips. 

“What is your least favorite subject?” asked Wilson. 

“Math,” Replied Phillips.  

Wilson said to Phillips, “Alright, we’re going to change that.”  

He did change that, and this inspired Phillips to become a math teacher.  

“I would love to be what Mr. Wilson was for me, to my students, just have them appreciate math more than formulas and a different way of thinking. It really opened my horizon, I’d say.” he said.  

Phillips is most excited about this year is that he gets to have his own space, his own classroom. He wants his students to walk in to class each day and they can feel comfortable. Phillips is looking forward to, is continuing to cultivate that environment. 

“Create an environment that students want to be in, not an environment students have to be in,” Phillips said. 

Phillips loves sports, he played basketball in high school and still plays pickup basketball. He likes anything outdoors like fishing, camping, and hiking. He also likes to read.  

Even though Phillips is involved in sports outside of school, he isn’t a coach, but he said that he wanted to be a coach in the future.  

“I hope to at some point, but I haven’t really had the opportunity since I’m new to the district, but I’d love to coach basketball one day,” he said.  

Phillips wondered why he was being interviewed and the reason why was because he is a new teacher and there could be a good chance to get an interesting story from him, which there was.