Having to put more effort into school to get the grades she truly wanted, Ms. Sommer Bannan found her passion for teaching. Bannan is a new teacher on campus this year, teaching LA/Com I and II. Since she worked hard for her education, Bannan valued it and wanted to inspire others to work hard to achieve their goals.

“…I feel sometimes when you have to work really hard for something, you tend to value it a lot more,” Bannan said.

Originally, Bannan was born in the Orangeville area. After graduating high school, she attended Westmont College in Santa Barbara. Later, she attended Los Rios Community College, then transferred to San Diego State University where she received her bachelors degree and teaching credential.

After receiving her masters in English literature from National University, Bannan got certification from Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame in Women in Leadership.

Bannan made the decision to move to Rocklin after moving 10 times between Maryland, Colorado and California, for her son, who is starting high school on campus next year.

“I wanted to raise my son in a really great community, with good people, good schools — and that is Rocklin and Whitney,” Bannan said.

In her approach to being a new teacher here, Bannan wants to create an environment surrounded with mindfulness in her classes, as that is something she finds important for herself and her students.

“I’m very excited and very nervous. I love the students,” Bannan said. “Everybody is so kind, respectful, honest, and they take their academics seriously. I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with students who care about their future.”

One of Bannan’s students, Merric White, expressed how he feels about Bannan’s approaches as a new teacher.

“She just makes everybody more energetic, even if it’s the morning time. Everyone just instantly wakes up when they get in her class,” White said.

Outside of school, Bannan enjoys mindfulness and meditation, and she wants to incorporate those values into her classroom.

“I set a goal in January to try to meditate every day and incorporate it more in my own life,” Bannan said. “Because life can get pretty stressful sometimes, especially as a teacher, mom, and [having] a puppy at home. So I felt like it was something I needed in my own life. And then it went off in my head, ‘Well, if I need it in my life, the students need it in their lives.”

Bannan also participates in yoga every Sunday and tries to meditate every day. In her previous classroom, she would meditate with students every Friday, starting from two minutes then slowly building up to 30.

To get to know Bannan better, Ms. Christina Cooney said how the English department enjoys having lunch together at their lunch table, and that is how they welcome new staff members to their department.

“She’s definitely very bubbly,” Cooney said. “Always very excited and trying to do new things.”

While relying on her new department mates for questions she has, such as how to use Schoology, Bannan also continues to grow in her friendships with other staff members in and out of the English department.

“I’m really just excited to collaborate and work together [with other teachers],” Bannan said. “I’m going to learn from them, they’re going to learn from me and I just think that I’m working with really neat staff members.”

by ISA HERNANDEZ, GABBY ROBINSON, ETHAN SMITH & NAVNEET THANDI