Teacher Feature: Mrs. Hedlun

Mrs. Hedlun teaches English 9 as well as English 11 and is the Journalism adviser at Mead High School. She’s taught for seven years: two years at Aurora Central High School and five years at MHS. 

But why be a teacher? Mrs. Hedlun knew she wanted to teach late in high school.

“I really struggled as an eighth and ninth grader. I made some really poor decisions, and time and time again, it was my teachers who stepped in and showed me extra love and support. I was actually suspended once in middle school, and my eighth grade math teacher came to my house just to give me my homework and explain our math problems. In ninth grade, my journalism/yearbook teacher spent lunch with me weekly providing a listening ear and giving me a space I could be myself. She made a huge difference for me. I didn’t make the decision until later in high school, but I realized I wanted to help students too; it just so happened that English was my best subject… so why not teach it?” said Mrs. Hedlun.

Mrs. Hedlun started her journey at Arvada High School, then transferred to Pomona High School. She then graduated from Metro State University with her Bachelors in English and continued her education by completing her Masters in Educational Leadership at Colorado Christian University.

Mrs. Hedlun is the adviser of The Mav, Mead High School’s student-ran newspaper, and the student broadcast MavTV. This group has won “Best in Show for Online News” for three years in a row as well as many other individual awards through the Colorado Student Media Association. 

Mrs. Hedlun started and took on the Journalism class in 2017 and has taken it from the ground up. There are countless hours that Mrs. Hedlun and the newspaper staff have put into creating and educating student media.

Mrs. Hedlun also won “Teacher of the Year” for the 2019-2020 school year at MHS.

“I feel honored and thankful that I work in a community that appreciates what I do. I also am thankful to be recognized amongst so many other excellent teachers, many of whom are my mentors,” she said. 

As a teacher, Mrs. Hedlun hopes to “help all of my students find success in reading and writing, and [she wants] to help [her] students engage in the world in authentic ways. [She] also wants to help fight systematic issues in education that hurt disadvantaged students. Too many students become lost when they’re adolescents, and [she] wants to help them feel safe and welcomed.”

To achieve this goal, Mrs. Hedlun works alongside her best friend Mrs. Emberg as well as colleague Mrs. Krack in a program at Mead called RISE. The goal of this program is to help incoming ninth graders transition into high school. They work with students who have struggled in middle school or students who would benefit from making connections in high school. 

Mrs. Hedlun has two children and two dogs. As you can imagine, it is hard to have many hobbies when you are a mother of four in addition to a full time high school teacher. But when she does have free time, she enjoys yoga, hiking, and spending time with her family. 

Mrs. Hedlun’s husband wanted to add that “she is great at killing spiders”, which is a trait many might not have.

As Mrs. Hedlun continues her career, MHS is happy to have her and grateful for all she does.