Ulvang teaches ninth grade English and Yearbook for the first time

Ventura High School lost many teachers in the 2020-21 school year, which  mean Ventura has received an influx of new teachers, Lauren Ulvang being one of them.

 Ulvang recently started her fourth year working for the Ventura School District and replaced the previous yearbook teacher, Ellen Guerrero, who received a teaching job at middle school level. Prior to working at VHS, Ulvang taught at Buena High School and De Anza Middle School. Her favorite thing about being a teacher is “getting to see those ah-ha moments of students”. She grew up in McMinnville,Oregon which is known for its wine country, with green rolling hills, and it’s historical relevance. For schooling, Ulvang attended Westmont College which is known for its liberal arts program and is located nearby Ventura, in Santa Barbara. 

Ulvang taught at De Anza Middle School during the pandemic and she found it “Really difficult to teach to black screens. I didn’t get to see their faces but I was still able to build connections,” Ulvang says. Ulvang remembers from teaching online where “A sixth grader sang me happy

 birthday. I never got to see his face but I thought it was pretty cute.”

Freshman Bailey Burnam is taking honors English 9 with  Ulvang. Burnam says, “ I have enjoyed annotating our first story we read in class.”  Burnam’s states that one of her  goals for English with Ulvang is to,”raise my hand more and get better at annotating.” Burnam is excited to write essays and read classics. Another student of Ulvang’s ninth grade class is  Alisha Ali, who  also has goals for this academic year. Ali’s favorite thing about Ulvang’s English class is analyzing animated short films. Ali hopes to “get better at evaluating details in her class.”