Coming home to teach

Brynna DeLong is in the family business.

Her mother and grandmother were teachers, and her older sister is a teacher.

DeLong, who grew up in Washington, is a first-year fourth grade teacher at Highland Elementary School in Riverside.

'I knew in high school I wanted to be a teacher,” DeLong said. 'I also had jobs in high school and college where I worked with children. I grew to love and have a passion for teaching and working with children.”

When DeLong graduated from Iowa State University in last May, she knew she wanted to come back home to teach.

'I wanted to be near Washington,” she said. 'My sister works (at Highland Elementary) and said she loved it. It made me want to teach there as well when I saw that there was an opening.

'Mainly, though, it was in the Southeast Iowa/Washington area. I knew about it growing up, and it made me want to come back to this area.”

Being close to family was a priority to her.

'What I like about Washington is that all my family is there and came back to the area,” she said. 'My sister and my older brother came back to the area, and my parents are here. It made me want to come back.”

DeLong said that she loved growing up in Washington and fondly recalls her time at Washington High School, where she ran cross-country and track and played basketball.

'Growing up in Washington, I knew everyone at my school,” she said. 'I had a great experience playing sports at Washington. I liked the small school atmosphere and small town.”

After graduation, DeLong attended Iowa State, which she admits was an unlikely choice for her.

'I grew up a Hawkeye fan,” she said. 'I never thought about going to Iowa State at first.”

She said she heard great things about the school's education program and decided to look into it further.

'I took a visit and was impressed,” she said.

She added that it helped that her then-boyfriend - now fiancé, Aaron Vittatoe - was attending Iowa State.

DeLong now enjoys being able to work with her sister, kindergarten teacher Bethany Williams.

'I get to see her a lot, and she's been very helpful at school,” DeLong said. 'It's been fun to teach with some family.”

With the challenges of the 2020-21 school year, DeLong needed all the help she could get in her first teaching position.

She said that this school year presented challenges to experienced teachers and first-year teachers alike.

'A lot of teachers are not knowing what's going on either, or what to do, whether it's online versus hybrid then back to in-person,” she said. 'A lot of teachers are still trying to figure it out.

'As a new teacher coming in, I have to figure out how to do all that and figure out the curriculum and all the school rules and expectations. It's a lot to figure out for a first-year teacher and for any teacher.”

Despite the challenges, she has enjoyed being at Highland Elementary.

'It's great,” she said. 'It's a smaller school, so it's been fun to get to know everyone within the district.”

Looking to the immediate future, DeLong and Vittatoe, who is now a junior ag lender at Federation Bank in Washington, plan to marry in July.

Looking further out, DeLong hopes to have an opportunity to incorporate her love of sports into her teaching career. She holds a coaching endorsement from Iowa State.

'Growing up in Washington and playing all those sports and teaching has made me want to get into coaching,” she said. 'Although I'm not coaching now, it's something I would like to get into.”