After being involved in family and consumer sciences (FCS) as a student in high school and college, Harleigh Claussen, Yutan’s new FCS teacher, knew she wanted to return to the classroom and teach.
“I knew I loved taking those classes, and I realized that I actually really loved family and consumer sciences education as a student,” Claussen said.
Claussen grew up in O’Neil, Neb., and was heavily involved in Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) in high school, which was what inspired her career path.
“Through my involvement in FCCLA, I competed in a competitive event called FCS Education. And through that event, I was challenged to connect with FCS teachers across Nebraska and research the career. Doing the research behind becoming an FCS educator really helped me decide my career path,” Claussen said.
After high school, Claussen attended Wayne State College to major in family and consumer sciences education.
“My favorite part of college was being a part of a club called the Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Professionals on campus. Through this club, we built a community on campus,” Claussen said. “We hosted evening cooking nights together and taught others how to prepare nutritious meals. We invited domestic abuse and violence shelters to come speak with our students and encourage them to live happy lives with healthy relationships.”
As she approached graduation, Claussen knew what she wanted in a school for her first job.
“I began looking at schools that really aligned with my mission of empowering students, and I felt like Yutan was a perfect fit,” Claussen said.
In the six weeks Claussen has been an FCS teacher, she has already seen some of the benefits and challenges of her job.
“The benefits are definitely watching student growth, and getting to see students develop is super rewarding,” Claussen said. “The struggles of my current position are developing a new curriculum for new classes. As a first-year teacher, building a curriculum can be challenging, but I am enjoying it and looking forward to developing the entirety of the curriculum.”
The curriculum Claussen is developing is part of five new classes that aim to teach students helpful life skills: Interpersonal Relations, Independent Living, Nutrition, Intro to FCS and Human Development.
“My favorite class to teach as an FCS teacher is Interpersonal Relations because I think how students interact with one another now and in the future is so important and to be able to foster relationship-building skills,” Claussen said.
Junior Lincoln Hoffart is part of Claussen’s Interpersonal Relations class, along with Nutrition.
“In Interpersonal Relations, we learn about how to treat other people and how to treat yourself,” Hoffart said. “We’ve learned about pushing yourself to become the best person you can be and how it helps in your future.”
Hoffart appreciates the environment Claussen has created in her classes, which benefits her students’ way of learning.
“The environment is really friendly, and we interact with each other all the time. She’s pretty loose with us, and she lets us figure stuff out on our own, but if we aren’t doing something right, she’ll help us,” Hoffart said.
Senior Ruby Ochoa is part of Claussen’s Interpersonal Relations, Nutrition, and Intro to FCS classes and has noticed that students can apply what they learn from Claussen in their daily lives.
“In Nutrition, we’ve talked about what you should eat throughout the day, what’s good and bad for you and how to take better care of yourself. My favorite thing we have learned is how to keep track of how many calories we consume daily,” Ochoa said.
Ochoa would recommend these classes because of the positive experience she is having.
“I recommend all three of the classes. You learn a lot from the three different classes that you wouldn’t usually learn. You will most likely use what you learn to plan in the future,” Ochoa said.
To plan for her own future and the future of the FCS program, Claussen has goals to help make a difference.
“My plans for the upcoming school year are to make the FCS program as strong as it can be and to expose students to a wide array of knowledge regarding family and consumer sciences and hopefully build the program,” Claussen said.
As Claussen continues through the year, she is ready to work toward these goals and looks forward to every day of this school year as an FCS teacher.
“Teaching never looks the same day to day, “ Claussen said. “Teaching is about flexibility and adapting to the needs of your students, but it is also really rewarding every day. You have challenging moments, but at the end of the day, working with students is what I’m here to do and what I get to do every day.”
