Making history: School greets two new history teachers

At Hastings High School (HHS), the school gained two new faces to the history department. Beginning this school year, Hannah Witt and Landon Lautzenhiser are now able to call themselves official members of HHS staff.

These teachers aim to build a space where students can learn and understand the lesson being taught. They do this through offering extra help to students who need it and establishing consistent routines throughout the classroom.

“I hope in the future they can say they learned something new, that they were somewhat invested in the class and wanted to ask questions and be part of it. What I want to happen is for people to be involved in the class, and that’s the main thing,” said Lautzenhiser.

Lautzenhiser was inspired to be a teacher by his mother, grandmother, and his former teachers. His mother is a second-grade teacher, and his grandmother is a first-grade teacher, and they were part of the reason he chose his career as a teacher today. Not only did his family inspire him; his teachers as well made a big impact, helping him choose the history department in general.

“The main person who inspired me the most was my junior high teacher. His name was Mr. Sparks. He was probably the first who got me into history. ‘I was like, oh, this is actually kind of interesting, ’” said Lautzenhiser.

Lautzenhiser went to college at Wayne State for four years. Throughout those four years, he never considered changing majors or giving up on his teaching career. Although he never changed his mind about teaching, he wants students to know it is never too late to try something new.

“Something students should know about college is that nothing is set in stone. If you get there and realize you don’t want to be a teacher, you can switch it up. Of course, later on it gets tougher to switch, but early on in your college career, if you don’t like what you are doing, you can always change,” said Lautzenhiser.

Just down the hallway from Lautzenhiser’s classroom is the other new teacher in the history department. This is Miss Witt’s room. Witt is a new face, but she is not new to the building. She went to high school at HHS and has family members who work here as well. Witt’s biggest inspirations included her father, Mr. Dave Witt, who has recently retired from HHS, and a few of her teachers.

“The first person who inspired me would be my father, David Witt, who taught here at the high school until he retired last year. I would say he was probably one of my biggest inspirations. Mr. Knapple taught me when I was in middle school, and he was very much an inspiration. He was my history teacher in middle school, and he was just so passionate and such a fun teacher,” said Witt.

Witt went to college for 11 years before becoming a teacher. She was first an undergraduate for five years, doing a double major in English and History. Then she did two years to gain her master’s degree, and the other years she went to college in pursuit of a different career as a software developer. Witt was a software developer for seven years before becoming a teacher.

“After those years as a software developer, I realized that I wasn’t very happy doing it. I didn’t feel fulfilled doing it, so I was trying to think of what would make me happy, and that was teaching. I loved academia, I loved history, I loved teaching, so I decided to come back to teaching and stick with it. I like sharing the things that I’m passionate about and helping people find what they are passionate about,” said Witt.