After a successful day of working at Shorewood High School, Social Studies teacher Evan Schmidt is ready to get home and let his two border collies, Jasper and Levi, outside. Afterwards, he might decompress by reading a good old non-fiction book. Schmidt also spends some time thinking about one of his absolute favorite topics, travel.

Schmidt has been teaching at SHS for quite some time now. He graduated from Shorewood himself in ‘98, then returned as a student teacher in the early 2000s. He attended Cardinal Stritch and spent three semesters here teaching French. Schmidt then decided to indulge himself in his passion for traveling and decided to move to the Netherlands where he earned his master’s in Economics. He again followed the path of travel by moving to Switzerland to teach for three years at a boarding school.

“I taught [International Baccalaureate] economics and Model United Nations in English, but students were from 65 different countries. It was a really fascinating experience.”

In 2010, after being in Europe for a few years, Schmidt was ready to come back home to be closer to family. In the gap between arriving back home and then working at SHS in 2013, he taught at UW Fond Du Lac and also worked for a social media firm. When Schmidt returned to Shorewood,  he was originally employed as a French teacher and then switched to his current job as a social studies teacher six years ago. Now he teaches Financial Literacy and Asian studies, and advises Model United Nations, Investment club, and co-advises Global Scholars Club with Madame Jacquart. Schmidt is also the contact for CIEE, as he is passionate in assisting students in having the opportunity to go abroad.

“I spent my junior year abroad in a city called Aix en Provence in the south of France, which is where I really fell in love with travel,” Schmidt said. “Every student has the chance to go abroad at the high school, if they want to.”

Schmidt has an extensive area of expertise. He majored in Economics, French and Political Science, and minored in European Studies. He also has master’s degrees in teaching and economics.  

Originally, Schmidt had planned to become a diplomat, having the Foreign Service Exam. The next step would have been to take another test, this time in San Francisco, but instead discovered his passion for teaching. 

“I had an epiphany that I really would prefer to be a teacher, so I actually never went to San Francisco, and I’m happy with that choice,” Schmidt said. “I really enjoy helping others develop the skills they need to be happy in the future. It brings meaning to my career, I feel like I’m doing something for the collective good.”

Schmidt highly values helping students to understand the way the world works, especially in terms of personal finance, something that many schools don’t adequately teach, but will affect each and every person in adulthood. He wants students to know how to manage money, and understand how a wide array of factors can affect their personal financial situation.

Schmidt is passionate about his current role, and appreciates the challenges that can come along with it. 

“I really enjoy that every day is different,” he said. “I like the fact that it’s not like I’m doing the same thing every day, there’s a lot of variety.  I find that challenging and that keeps me from being bored, it keeps me interested.”