Meet the Teacher:  Nicole Sapir

Ms. Sapir grew up in Thornhill and went to school in Kingston and Toronto. She is the youngest of three children and has an older sister and brother.  Nicole’s family is Jewish. Her father is from Georgia and her mother is from Ukraine.  Both of her parents came to Canada as they approached their teens and went to high school in Toronto.  They spoke Russian at home, so that is Nicole’s first language.

In her spare time, Nicole loves to read and write.  She sometimes collects copies of her favourite stories and has them signed by the authors. She likes to try new things and has taken up painting, model building, cooking and baking in the last few years.  She enjoys playing with her Beagle, Sadie. They go on long hikes and discover new parks and trails together.  Before Covid, Ms. Sapir enjoyed going to escape rooms and trying new restaurants. She has been snowboarding for the past few years and has recently taken up women’s hockey.

Nicole began university with the dream of becoming a lawyer and studied English, Social Sciences and Law. She worked in law for a couple of years, while she was studying, and realized that this was not the right career path for her.  After volunteering at Crestwood and a few other schools, Nicole discovered that she really loved teaching!  She enjoyed spending time with students and helping them learn new things.  She also loved the school environment. Nicole quickly decided to get a teaching degree and is really happy with that career choice.

During her student-teaching experience, Ms. Sapir was able to visit Holocaust survivors at the Baycrest Centre with Mr. Masters and his history students. The experience was eye-opening and humbling. The survivors had stories that were both terrifying and amazing to hear and the students learned a lot from them. Nicole loved interacting with the participants and found it very emotional.  It was an overwhelmingly positive experience to see how happy the survivors were to share their stories with the students and how involved the students were with the survivors.

Nicole is awesome at certain video games, but don’t blow her cover. It’s a secret talent.

As a graduate of Crestwood, Ms. Sapir is extremely excited to be part of the Crestwood community again.