As the school year starts, new Math Department Chair Brittany Zettergren looks forward to joining the teaching staff at Lemont High School. Zettergen starts her 13th year of teaching after she worked at Plainfield South High School, Hinsdale South High School and Plainfield Central High School.
In Zettergren’s teaching career, she’s worked in multiple different positions of teaching. She was a math teacher, became the Math and Science Division Chair at Plainfield Central and then she became the LHS Math Department Chair.
“I went to Illinois State University and got a degree in math education, then I got my masters at Concord University and I did their principal prep program,” Zettergren said.
A firm believer that high school is an important time in a young person’s life, Zettergren reflects on her own high school experiences when it comes to teaching and heading the math department. As a student at Lockport High School, she always enjoyed helping other students, and found that math was something she felt confident in.
“Math kind of came easy to me, but I saw that math was not easy for [other] people, and I just liked helping people,” Zettergren said. “I was like ‘Oh, well what can I do to help others in something that I feel confident in, or that I enjoy,’ and that’s kind of how I picked math.”
As the Math Department Chair, Zettergren looks forward to learning from her fellow staff members and bringing in new teaching knowledge to the school. Her belief is that by learning from each other, Lemont High School will be better as a whole.
“My quote that I’m telling myself this year is that I can either be comfortable or I can grow,” Zettergren said. “Part of my coming to this role is [knowing] that anytime you go through change it’s hard, it’s uncomfortable, but the whole purpose of this is to grow and be better.”
Zettergren is excited about the opportunity to focus solely on math, as she was previously the Math and Science Division Chair at Plainfield Central for five years. Though she enjoyed that position and the opportunities it presented to her, the chance to focus only on LHS’ math curriculum was a major draw for Zettergren.
“I love that I was just able to focus on math in this position,” Zettergren said. “Math is my passion.”
Being a department chair, and acknowledging that most students won’t have the opportunity to know her as a classroom teacher, Zettergren wants LHS students to know that she is here to help in any way she can. While she loves math, her priority is getting to know her students and offering support – whether that is related to math or getting involved in the school community.
