Struan Somerville

Staff member Lynnea Befus standing in front of Metea’s flag gallery.

Lynnea Befus is an English and Philosophy teacher at Metea, and also a Philosophy teacher at Neuqua. Originally from Costa Rica, Befus is a teacher who cares about everything her students discover and do.

What activities, programs, or roles are you involved in at Metea?

I teach AP Lang, philosophy, and I am also a club sponsor for Mustang comedy.

What are your goals or plans for the future?

Related to job goals and plans for the future [to] survive. Statistically, new teachers in the United States don’t make it to year three and after that, there’s a big drop off after year five. [When] you make it to year five, it evens out and people stay. I am in year four, so my goal [is] to make it through next year, then I am among the ranks of the redeemed, or something like that.

What’s something about you that people might not know but is important to you?

I think that people don’t necessarily, particularly students, know about me, is that I am not a grudge holder. Like you could ruin my day in class one day and the next day it’s a fresh start.

What keeps you motivated to come in every day?

Obviously the answer is the students, right? The students are the reason that I’m here, and that’s true, but I think it’s [also] my younger sister. I have three sisters, and the one who’s closest in age to me just had a very horrible high school experience. She’s really shy and she has a hard time making friends and putting herself out there.

She’s so smart, such a smart person, and she just had such a different experience than me. So I think a lot of what motivates me to be here [are] the kids who [do] get picked on, and the kids who do have a harder time expressing themselves. I’m here for everybody, but I especially think about them.

Why did you choose Metea?

The easiest answer for why is that I did my student teaching here. I didn’t actually choose to get to know Metea. I was selected for metea, and it was terrifying.