Mr. Phil Kohm

I have worked in the Phoenix Union High School District for over 20 years beginning in 1998.   Starting at Metro Tech, I taught the original CTE exploration class for which students worked on individual lab stations.  When the class was disbanded I was transferred to Trevor Browne for 15 years before coming to North for the past five.

I primarily teach freshmen CTE class which I enjoy tremendously.  I have taught Accounting, Business Law, and Business 3-4 also but CTE is my passion.  The students explore many job careers and begin with over 20 possibilities.  From there, they will select their Top 5 and then analyze those occupations closely before selecting two for their final project.  Obviously the students are only 14 years old and may change their mind.  However, it is my belief that the process is important.  I am speaking from my own experience because I did not enjoy being an Accountant.  Bentley University now costs well over $50K and I could not afford to make the same mistake today.

Choosing an education path to accomplish one’s career objective is another topic we cover.   We have additional topics but these are the main ones that I focus on.   I do also believe that the process also can motivate each student to do better in the current classes.  We talk about the importance of goal setting especially with one’s GPA.  So often scholarships are lost freshmen year not because of one’s ability but rather their lack of focus, awareness and motivation. 

My outside passions include coaching.  I currently coach cross country and basketball at other schools.  I have coached 32 seasons for seven different sports.  I have coached players who have gone on to play at UCLA, Nebraska, UTEP, Nevada, Grand Canyon and schools in Kansas.   More importantly, many have achieved great academic success.