Recent H-D grad Baltes returns home to teach high school art

Katelyn Baltes’ first year in a new career comes with a prominent sense of familiarity.

Baltes, a 2016 Hampton-Dumont High School graduate, has returned to H-D as the new high school art instructor this year. In just her short time back, Baltes has encountered the hospitality and care she remembers from her time as a student.

“It’s exciting to be able to come back home because Hampton-Dumont schools has an amazing support for one another and everyone is welcome with open arms,” she said. “I know being back at H-D will strengthen me as an educator and I’m excited to bring some new ideas to the school.”

Baltes attended Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa, where she received her degree in art education and played golf.

Baltes said she’s had it in her mind since she was young to become a teacher and chose high school art because of the position’s ability to not only teach students new lessons, but influence them to look at life beyond high school.

“I enjoy teaching high schoolers because it’s a time in their lives where they are thinking about what’s next,” she said. “As a teacher, I want to help guide them to where they would like to go after high school.

“There are so many different career choices and in class, students will be able to learn how to become creative and take that next step into the real world,” she added.

While they’re in her classroom, Baltes said she hopes to show students that art is more than paint on paper. She said she hopes to open their eyes to the fact that art is all around them and how art has effected history to this point.

“I got into education because I have a love of the arts and would like to teach students that there is more to art than drawing, painting and creating,” she said. “Art is history, storytelling and much, much more.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Baltes said her idea of what to expect in the classroom while she was pursuing her degree to how school is operated now is drastically different but she knows this is just one of many challenges she’ll face as an educator.

“I have been thinking about my first day as a teacher since I was a little girl and it’s crazy to think that it is not what I expected,” she said. “But as educators, we learn how to adjust to different circumstances and become flexible.”

She said student teaching and other lessons she’s learned in professional development have shown her ways to effectively reach students whether they’re online or in the classroom. While art may not be considered a subject that translates well to online learning, Baltes said she’s confident her students will still be able to gain valuable skills in not just art, but in several areas of life.

“It was difficult at first to think how students will learn different materials at home and accomplish learning goals, but after a few weeks (of student teaching), I was able to find different ways for students to learn at home,” she said. “This is a learning process for all teachers, students and parents, but it will help education in the future.”