Beaver Reflections:
I started at Beaver in 7th grade and graduated in 2006. I have a lot of fond memories and I loved all my teachers. The classes were super interesting and brought unique perspectives. I had come from Boston Public Schools, so it was very different. I got to participate in theater, the arts, and sports. I played soccer, basketball, and softball because it was a requirement, but it pushed me to try things and many of them I ended up really liking. I think fondly of Ms.Jacobs, who was a US History teacher, and Mr.Adjout, who was my French teacher. He was awesome. We had little French names that we came up with and we were only allowed to speak French in his classroom, but there was a lot of asking him in French, “How do you say?” and then saying it in English. He was always such a funny, compassionate teacher. He worked really hard to instill an appreciation for language and learning a new language and, as someone who spoke another language at home, I really appreciated that. Mr.Sun was also amazing. I sought him out and got his advice on all sorts of things. I remember doing a project for him where we watched a bunch of movies like The Matrix and compared it to a bunch of philosophers like Nietzsche and other famous philosophers.

What is #happeningnow in your life:
I went to Northeastern and graduated in 2010 as a business major. I did the co-op program, which led me to my first job at Akamai, during the financial crisis. Ten years later, I am now Associate Director of Operations at Wayfair and I’ve been here for three years. I also got married and had a baby. He’s six months old. I am very grateful and fortunate that both my husband and I have been able to work from home and have that flexibility. When our son was born, there were a few weeks when no one met him, not even through a window. Hopefully, a lot of positive things come out of this time. With my team, I have worked to make sure people don’t burn out and are finding the time to live their lives, find their hobbies, and find their passions.

“If the pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that things can change in a second.”

– Sophia Tsakmaklis Teague ’06

Advice for Beaver students:
My advice is always to try new things. I’m a very risk-averse person, but I’ve really challenged myself to try different experiences.