Beuden Loves Teaching, Traveling and Family Time

Britney Beuden teaches sixth-grade English and math at San Tan Elementary. This is her 11th year of teaching and her fourth year at San Tan Elementary.

Beuden was born in Virginia but she grew up and attended school in Arizona. The family moved to Arizona when Beuden was 5, after her dad retired from the Air Force, and because they had other relatives who lived there. Her interest in education was piqued at an early age, Beuden says. Her aunts and grandfather were teachers and she recalls, “I was always trying to play school with my younger brother.” So, teaching was “something I (had) a passion for at a young age.”

When Beuden was a student, she says her favorite subject was social studies. But she remembers having some teachers who did not exactly leave a good impression on her. However, they did partly make her the teacher she is today by showing her how she wanted to do things differently.

“I wanted to make a difference with students and make learning fun,” explains Beuden. “So they could find a light” in the classroom, she says.

Beuden was nominated by student Molly. “She never gets really mad at us when we are not being good,” writes Molly, who adds, “Whenever I don’t understand something, she always will help me step by step.”

As a youngster, Beuden was very athletic. She says she tried pretty much every sport there is and spent most of the year playing softball between her school and club teams.

These days, she likes to spend time with her family, including her two sons and two stepchildren. She says she also enjoys traveling and trying new and different foods. She recently visited Japan. “Growing up, we had about eight exchange students, so we traveled to visit one of them,” she shares. Beuden says the trip to Japan was a bit of a culture shock, in a good way, due to how polite everyone was. 

For Beuden, trying to stay on top of youth culture and slang can be hit or miss. She recalls a time last year when she was asking the students to get to work. She told the kids to “lock in,” and the classroom erupted with laughter. That attempt “didn’t go my way,” she muses.