Joining the teaching staff this year is Ms. Whitney Lum, who is teaching Graphics I and Art I.

“This is my first year teaching. My favorite part is the excitement students have when they’re learning something new and they get it,” Lum said.

Lum used to have a career in graphic design but decided to go back to school to get her teaching credential, and ended up teaching both graphics and art. Since she teaches both of these courses, she splits her time between the communications and VAPA department, and she teaches in both the C building and the J building.

“I went to Long Beach State, and you are required to take a lot of fine art classes there. I’ve always been interested in art, so I used both of my backgrounds to teach,” Lum said.

Lum’s passion for graphic design originated when she was in high school in the graphics class at Rocklin.

“I wanted to make a difference and share my excitement for graphic design. So the exposure to graphic design there spurred my interest into my earlier career, then looped back around to teaching; I wanted to give back in a way,” Lum said.

The main reason why she teaches high school specifically is because of the courses she chose to teach.

“Graphic design you can’t really teach to the little ones, but it’s also the connection with the students and the community you guys create; with the sports, and the rallies and all that school spirit that you wouldn’t be able to get at the elementary level,” Lum said.

Most of Lum’s extra time is spent getting things ready for her classes. Although, when she has some free time, she enjoys swimming and is an avid T.V. watcher. But the time most important to her is time spent with her family.

“I like to spend a lot of time with my family. All my cousins and all their kids and stuff like that, I really like spending time with them,” Lum said.

Lum is excited for all of the school activities and events to come.

Lum said, “I’m most excited for getting to know the campus and the school, it’s really exciting so far. It seems like all the students have a good attitude towards the school and there’s a lot of school spirit. Since I did my student teaching at a school that didn’t have a lot of school spirit, it’s really fun to see the rallies and you guys really getting into it.”

by ABI BROOKS