As a teacher, Limburg believes her strengths lie in organization, helping make her classes smoother and on pace for her students. “Historically, I’m a really organized teacher and I really like knowing what my plan is and spending some time over the summer to figure out where I am today and what am I trying to accomplish over the course of the year and how I make sure that happens for myself and for the students,” she said.

Stone’s goal is to create a community within his classroom where his students feel at home. “I think I generally succeed at creating a comfortable class environment where students feel safe and welcomed, and I do a lot of icebreakers, welcoming and get-to-know-you activities with a community in the classroom,” he said. “I hope my students know they are welcome there and I enjoy them being there not just as my students but also as human beings and community members. I also try to empathize with my students a lot—it wasn’t that long ago when I graduated from Paly myself—so I know the Palo Alto community well, the pressures that are placed on Palo Alto kids, and recognizing that you’re all trying to deal with a million pressures at once is important. There’s a difficult balance between trying to push students without asking too much of them, which I hope to resolve.”

Wang also wants to use her own strengths as a teacher, as well as topics she learned in her teaching program, to create a space for students to learn but also be open and share their experiences. “I want to be telling students on the first day that anytime you want to talk, I’m here. I’ll just be there for them and create a safe space in the classroom and be inclusive.”

Helping students feel safe is also a major priority for Limburg, who wants to work with her students to create the best environment possible. “I really believe in giving a student space,” she said. “If I know a student is hav- ing a bad day and they tell me they need some space, I’d be willing to give that, particularly on the expectation that the student knows it’s a bad day and they will fix it later on, it’s just that in that moment they can’t. I understand in high school it’s really hard and things can be overwhelming.”

Stone decided to dedicate time to teaching after being an attorney and an elected official in order to be able to make a difference within student’s lives. “I went into law because I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and step into a moment in someone’s life where they need help, but as an attorney you’re fixing a problem that’s already occurred, rather than working to prevent it,” he said. “I’ve always really believed that education is the panacea for all of society’s problems and woes. I started to realize that I can make a greater difference in the lives of many people by being an educator, and it’s nice to be able to give back to the community in this way, maybe even creating that one classroom that makes students excited to come to school each day.”

Chen believes learning concepts also comes with a willingness to be wrong and to expand upon that willingness to improve. “As a teacher it’s all about connections, making the students feel like there’s no mistakes,” she said. “We make mistakes so we can learn from it.”

Stone believes he can help teach students to be confident in themselves and reach for whatever they want in life. “I want to teach students to follow their dreams and do what they want to do,” he said. “I think a big part in Palo Alto is that we put on these pressures by our family, by peers or even by our schools and what we perceive as to what our community expects of us. I felt those pressures going up, and at the end of the day I want to teach my students that they should do what makes them happy, because it is their life and their decisions.”

Each teacher emphasized values and mind- sets they hope their students come into the class with. Limburg echoed Chen’s sentiment about not always being right, but always try- ing hard. “I want students to bring their best self and we’ll take it from there,” she said. “Sometimes your best is going to fall short because concepts might be slightly challenging for you or you might not be at your best. And that’s fine.”

For Bogardus, respect ranked high on that list of values. “When I am working with students, I try to build relationships where we have a trusting relationship because I think it’s important to have respect and to have an appreciation for each other,” Bogardus said.

Wang chose to emphasize openness as something she hopes her students can bring to the classroom. “For my students, come in with an open heart, don’t be timid about how much you share with others and you share with the teacher because if they’re kind of timid to take the first step they’re definitely going to see me open up a lot to them and hopefully they’re going to get used to that.”

Stone believes that students should always come in ready to be learn. “Come in with an excitement for learning and a willingness to push yourself both intellectually and just out of your social comfort zone,” he said. “If my classes are willing to engage, have fun and laugh at my horrible jokes, I think we’ll have a great time and they’ll get a lot of out of it.”

Chen also spoke about how she hopes that students will consistently communicate with her. “Honesty is big and if something is really happening, I’d rather that they tell me instead of staying up all night, three nights in a row, doing something just to make it work,” she said. “Even if they’ve never struggled in math and excelled, eventually they’re going to hit some roadblocks and I want to help them tackle that and deal with that and speak up and ask for help.”

At the end of the day, teaching is about supporting others in building an ideal curriculum. “I’m just really excited about being here at Gunn, it seems like there’s an amazing Gunn family and I’m really happy that I’m joining,” Bogardus said.