Finding Her Passion: Olivia Van Renterghem, Fine Arts Department
Growing up in South Bend, Indiana, Olivia Van Renterghem attended Penn High School. During her sophomore year, her passion for art was ignited and nurtured under the guidance of an influential mentor, her high school art teacher, Mrs. Hope.
“I was just super inspired by her class,” Van Renterghem reflected.
As her artistic journey began, Van Renterghem also focused on excelling in her other high school classes.
“[Art] inspired me to do better in school because I had something in school that felt like it was for me,” she shared.
Her enthusiasm for art translated into a more focused academic effort, prompting her to join clubs, enroll in Advanced Placement courses, and set her sights on a college education centered around art.
After high school, Van Renterghem decided that she wanted to pursue art for a living, but she didn’t anticipate that teaching would become her path. She enrolled at IUPUI, where she completed a certificate in art therapy. However, as she progressed, she realized that teaching offered a more accessible and impactful way to reach people and share her love of art. This led her to shift her focus, ultimately earning a bachelor’s degree in art education.
Van Renterghem completed her student teaching at Center Grove High School, where she gained experience in a diverse range of art forms, including 2D and 3D art with a fiber arts focus. She taught students techniques such as fabric dyeing using wax, basket weaving, and printmaking to create their own pattern fabrics.
Now, as she begins her first teaching role, Van Renterghem is eager to contribute to the supportive environment at South.
“I [am] impressed by how lively all [of] the students [are] and willing to socialize with people they haven’t met [before],” she said.
“Just [with] the hallways being filled with art, [South] doesn’t feel super rigid, and it feels like a really creative and supportive environment. I was excited to see that.”
A Switcheroo! Who’s the New Face in Room A325? Maureen Sanders-Brunner, Mathematics Department
With longtime CRAM specialist Kyle Simpson leaving his position to become a full-time assistant athletic director for South in 2023, Simon Foss took over as the CRAM advisor. After a year in that role, Foss decided to return to school and join IU’s philosophy department to further his education. Following discussions before the end of the last school year about the role, beloved and longtime computer science teacher Seth Pizzo made the decision to step into the head role in CRAM, creating a vacancy that is now filled by Maureen Sanders-Brunner.
Sanders-Brunner’s background encompasses several disciplines that ultimately led her to develop a passion for teaching technology. Growing up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and attending Ben Davis High School and Indiana University, Sanders-Brunner developed the skills to have a career path of continual learning and growth, eventually finding herself returning to the high school classroom as a computer science educator.
During her time at IU, she earned a degree in library science and then pursued a graduate degree in library and information science. This led her to her first job as the school librarian and media teacher at Pike High School. There, Sanders-Brunner managed the school’s library and taught media classes, merging her passion for books with her growing interest in technology.
Her background in library science played a crucial role in shaping her approach to education. While studying at IU, Sanders-Brunner worked on digitizing resources and was involved in the inception of online catalogs. This experience introduced her to databases, SQL programming, and web development.
“I learned a lot about databases and how to code them,” she recalled. “My husband and I [even] started a [small] business where we were designing and developing web pages.”
This experience in programming and web design laid the groundwork for her future endeavors.
Sanders-Brunner left Pike High School after deciding to pursue her PhD at Ball State University. While completing her doctorate, she taught educational technology classes. Upon graduation, she worked at Cardinal Ritter and Martinsville high schools teaching computer science, and further developed a passion for the subject matter.
Her transition to teaching computer science came by chance when her son’s school needed a computer science teacher.
“I just loved it, so I stuck with it and learned more about it,” she said.
This enthusiasm and love for learning have been motivating forces throughout her career.
When Sanders-Brunner reflected on her first few weeks at Bloomington South, she shared, “I think this is the best school I’ve ever taught at. I’m so happy to be a part of this community… All [of] the [students] are great. I have so many kids taking computer science, and I love it.”
Sanders-Brunner highlighted one of her key goals for her teaching experience at South: “I hope that more girls take computer science in the future, that’s [definitely] one of my goals,” she said.
Bringing a New Perspective: Lydia New, World Language Department
Lydia New brings a unique and personal perspective to her role as the new ASL teacher at South. From a young age, New was involved in the deaf community. Because her childhood best friend was deaf, she learned sign language when she was just seven years old.
“I was always involved with deaf people [from] that point on,” New recalled. “I [also] babysat for deaf kids when I was younger.”
This early exposure to ASL and the deaf community laid the foundation for her lifelong commitment to the language.
As New grew older, her passion for ASL deepened. She moved to Northern California, where she immersed herself in the deaf community and culture. While there, she worked as a firefighter and met people from Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf and hard of hearing in Washington, D.C. She furthered her knowledge by taking interpreting classes and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in Deaf Studies. She also spent her summers at a deaf camp in Colorado, enriching her understanding of the community.
New’s experience in education began as a sign language interpreter, a role she excelled in for 12 years. Her work in this setting helped her better understand the educational needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. These skills have been invaluable as she translates her experience into her classroom at South. In addition to being a first-year teacher, she is pursuing a master’s degree in teaching ASL (TASL) as a World Language at the University of Northern Colorado.
New impacts both high schools in the district by also teaching ASL at Bloomington North. Balancing two teaching schedules presents challenges, particularly with managing different paces in the curriculum. Despite this, New finds the experience rewarding.
“It’s a challenge…but overall, it’s a lot of fun,” she said. “I’m just trying to navigate that space between the two different schedules. The curriculum’s the same, but they go at different paces.”
As New settles into her new role at South, her enthusiasm for teaching is evident in her interactions with her students.
“The kids are great. I love the diversity of my classes…I look forward to [growing] the program in ways that it can be enriched and be a reflective component of the deaf community,” she concluded.
