Lauren Gustafson, a world cultures/American government teacher, is going through with her ninth year of teaching. However, this year marks her first at HHS. Gustafson has taught numerous subjects in the field of history, including western civilization, American history, and sociology just to name a few. Every day, Gustafson comes to school with a positive attitude and good energy to make a stereotypically boring class a lot more engaging. 

As we all know, the coronavirus has most indefinitely changed our normal routines and ways of life. Everyone needs to adapt to the changes, including teachers. “As many teachers are facing a learning curve I am as well during the pandemic and have had to re-work my teaching strategies to cater to the new way of instructing, including updating my technology skills,” said Gustafson. However, she doesn’t let this get in the way of her efforts of trying to make class enjoyable and engaging. “We are figuring out new routines and ways of instructing and it is really promising seeing students and teachers thrive during these unprecedented times,” Gustafson said. 

Outside of teaching, Gustafson enjoys time spent with her family. She has a 1-year old daughter and a son that is just going into kindergarten. She says they keep her busy in the best way. “I love to cook and together with my family we explore the outdoors, go camping, hiking, and swimming, but also love watch a lot of different sports,” said Gustafson 

From being a student in her class, I can tell you that she is the most energetic history teacher in my experience with the public-school system. I’m glad that she’s a part of the HHS staff, and I think she is too. “I cannot express enough how grateful I am to be a part of the HHS family. We were elated to know our family was going to be able to relocate to Helena and have felt so welcomed by staff and students here at Helena High,” Gustafson said.