Quintin Lenti

West High building substitute Quintin Lenti doesn’t like to conform. Whether in music or teaching, they embrace an unconventional approach to each of their passions. Lenti grew up in Washington, playing the piano.
“I did [classical piano] for a while, but I never played it the same way twice,” Lenti said. “I play different notes, different rhythms … everything is different every single time.”

This spirit of originality is reflected in Lenti’s teaching philosophy as well. They attended the University of Puget Sound to study math teaching, and believe schools’ current approach to the subject is flawed.

“It took me a long time to realize that the main reason people tend to not like math is [the lack of] community,” Lenti said. “When people say they’re bad at math, they kind of also mean, ‘I’m not respected in a math classroom,’” Lenti said.

Lenti prioritizes collaboration in every classroom they encounter.

“Anything I [can] do to make a … classroom more community-oriented will automatically make it a better classroom,” Lenti said.

As a building substitute, Lenti has the unique opportunity to take inspiration from various classrooms across the school.

“Lots of people think of all the subjects in a school as completely separate. But if I sit in on a humanities class, I learn so much,” Lenti said. “People sit in circles … you just sit in circles if you want people to understand each other. That’s just so fundamental, [but] in math, they couldn’t even imagine sitting in a circle.”

In the future, Lenti hopes to take their teaching philosophy into their own classroom.

“The people I’m meeting here [and] the references I now have [provide] a great jumping off point to get a career anywhere,” Lenti said.

Emily Magnuson

Katherine Shoppa and Zaira Ahmad

Defne Bayman

Emily Magnuson discusses her journey from being an artist in New York City to becoming a teacher in Iowa City.

One moment, art teacher Emily Magnuson was riding her bike through Chinatown in New York City on her way to work for an artist. The next moment, she was back in Iowa recovering from cancer. Magnuson hadn’t originally envisioned herself teaching art at West, but clearly, life had other plans for her.

“I just saw [Iowa City] with a new perspective,” Magnuson said. “Being a cancer survivor and being someone who’s chronically ill for the rest of their life, I needed a lifestyle that was a little more chill.”

When Magnuson found out she was diagnosed with cancer, she moved back to Iowa, the state where she was raised, to live with her parents and recover. While undergoing chemotherapy, Magnuson began volunteering at the crisis center where she discovered she enjoyed working with kids.

“When I’d hang out with kids whose families were in crisis, we’d just sit around and make art together,” Magnuson said. “I just really love the interactions we’d have.”

Now, Magnuson can’t imagine having a job without interacting with people. Creating connections and building relationships is one of her favorite parts about her job.

“I love the connections, I love helping people,” Magnuson said. “Having a place to go every morning, where I’m going to do some good in the world. I’m not stuck under a business where all I’m focused on is making money for the business. I have an impact on people and it’s really sweet in that regard.”

After working with kids all day at West, Magnuson goes to her art studio, where she works as a ceramicist. In her free time, Magnuson enjoys gardening, cooking and reading nonfiction books of all kinds. Overall, Magnuson feels ready for this school year.

“I’m really excited because we get to do more projects, and we get to experiment with more materials and we just get to do so much more [in class],” Magnuson said.