Aaron Zuelke has been part of the Spring Lake community for a while now, after teaching art in grades five through eight. During the 2023-2024 school year, he taught 1st-hour high school Multimedia (now called Mixed-Media) and then headed to the intermediate/middle school and taught there. Now he is settling in at the high school full time.
Recently, former Art Department teacher Jennifer Guwinnup resigned. This caused a conflict in trying to find a new art teacher. Eventually, Zuelke stepped up and took the job as a full-time high school art teacher. Since then he has been more well known to the community. Because he is in a new teaching environment, he has to adjust, taking it day by day. “I’m slowly adjusting, this is all new for me so I’m taking time and trying to fail forward,” Zuelke says. A big difference for him is that his high school students rely less on him and have better productivity. In terms of classes, AP Art is the biggest difference from middle school art. The AP Art students are mostly independent when creating their portfolios. A similar class is ceramics because he taught it at the middle school, and is now teaching it here, but it’s slightly more challenging.
As he adjusts teaching styles, he is also learning to connect with his students on a higher level. Mr. Zuelke is very pleased with the aesthetics and creations of his students. “I’m always amazed at what kids can do. They have so many different talents, It’s fun to see talented kids work because they are more refined. Seeing kids taking to the collegiate level is also fun.”
