Learner Spotlight: Sophia Beetz

My name is Sophia Beetz, and I am entering my senior year at iLEAD. I started iLEAD in seventh grade, as I was very involved in acting but needed to be able to focus on my education at the same time. As a history lover, I am very grateful to have the ability to adapt my curriculum and take classes including classical literature, ancient philosophy, and ancient Greek.

Thanks to iLEAD, I was also able to do a foreign exchange program with the State Department for a year in Germany. When I asked my counselor about going to Germany, she was very encouraging and helpful throughout the whole process. I didn’t know any German before going to Germany, so when I was accepted into the program I had second thoughts. When I told my counselor I was unsure, she urged me to go and really helped me understand the magnitude of the opportunity. I am very grateful to have the support that I do with iLEAD, as it was her insistence that really dispelled any worries I had about going. In Germany, I traveled to Bavaria, Cologne, and Greece with my host family and to Berlin, Weimar, Frankfurt, and Prague with my program. Of course, I also explored Hamburg, the city I was placed in, as well as the smaller surrounding cities, such as Lübeck and Schwerin.

I had taken Latin for three years with iLEAD before my exchange and found that the structure of German was really similar, which helped with learning the language. Now that I am applying to colleges, I feel very confident and prepared as a result of these experiences, and I look forward to my upcoming graduation!