Brian Lund

Brian Lund was born in 1986 in Sycamore, Illinois. He is a painter and history teacher, now residing in Elburn, Illinois. Brian is the oldest of three kids. After living in Virgil for the first 5 years of his life, his parents moved to Elburn, IL. They moved into a farm house that was built in the 1860's. The house and land around it has been a part of the family since it's creation. The farm has now been sold off to multiple people. Brian now lives south of Elburn in a local subdivision off of Rt 47.
Brian is an aspiring history teacher, who wants to teach at the middle or high school level. Brian has an ability to connect with young people in ways only a teacher can, and wants to continue along this path. He currently works for Ombudsman Educational Services in DeKalb, IL. At Ombudsman, Brian teaches an at risk student population. At Ombudsman, students attend for various of reasons, but usually students attend to make up credits in order to graduate high school. Brian teaches not only history, but the other core subject areas to over 40 students. This unique program allows students to earn more credits than at the high school, so many students could actually graduate early if they apply themselves and put forth a large amount of effort. It is Brian's job to ensure they stay on track.
Education
Brian attended Waubonsee Community College from 2004 to 2006. After realizing his dream to become a history teacher, Brian transferred to Aurora University after receiving his Associates Degree. It was at Aurora University where Brian found out what it took to be a history teacher. The academic rigor and intensity of the education and history programs prepared Brian to teach a variety of history classes. Brian graduated from Aurora University in 2009, and has been trying to teach ever since.
Brian wishes to get back into the traditional classroom, but until then is encouraged to have a chance to teach students on a daily basis. Brian understands that his experiences have shaped him into a great history teacher, but he is still looking for his big break into a traditional classroom, where he can teach hundreds of students about history.
Early Life
Brian began his early days in Virgil, IL. Growing up in a small agricultural community 50 plus miles west of Chicago. His father worked both as a farmer and construction worker. Brian's early interests was being pretending to be a fireman or a ghostbuster.
After moving to the Elburn homestead, Brian learned to enjoy nature by spending most of his days outside with his two younger sisters. With so much open land (5 acres) to run around, they had the best of times playing ball sports.
Living so far away from a traditional neighborhood had many benefits. Large bonfires were the norm, and running around to the local creek to check out the wildlife made for fun summers.
Brian really enjoyed playing baseball with his father and sisters. He would want to play catch for "shag" fly balls for hours a day. Having so much open land allowed Brian's father to hit real fly balls, and for most afternoons they would do so until they were too tired. Brian loved running to catch those balls so much that his sister would join in the fun as well.
Brian was a lucky child. He was born to a complete family. He has a full set of grandparents for both his mother and father. Having two younger sisters kept Brian on his toes, but he enjoyed those good times together.
To this day, Brian still has a full set of grandparents.
Middle School and High School
The formative years of Brian's youth were filled with lots of baseball games both playing and watching. Brian's love of baseball was only over took by his love of Lego's. He could literally loose entire parts of the day to building and creating with those tiny blocks.
Brian was also a great student, who enjoyed going to school everyday to learn about the world around him. He's curiosity allowed him to enjoy school more than the average American child. Brian and his sisters enjoyed school so much that during the summer months out of school, they would "play" school. Brian would be the teacher (of course), while his sisters would be his students. They did actual lessons and homework on a daily basis. Brian and his sisters loved learning and summers away from a traditional classroom didn't get in the way.
After leaving middle school, Brian had to experience high school. He also had to do so without his best friend, who had to do another year of 8th grade. Being in a new building and doing so without the comfort a friend could provide, he began a new chapter in his life. A mutual friend of both boys became Brian's go to guy. They didn't really know each other in middle school, but became best of friends in high school. By their senior year, they could pretty much finish each other's sentences.
High school brought on many new experiences for Brian. The big one for him was Band class. Brian started playing the trumpet in middle school, but didn't really take it too seriously until high school, where his new band instructor was much more intense. She was a great influence on Brian. Her aptitude and desire for music became Brian's as well. While never being a strong trumpet player, his love of the music kept him in band class for his sophomore year. It was this year that changed Brian's future tremendously. At the end of the year, he was made a section leader for the upcoming marching band season. Brian had become a strong marcher in the band and his peers nominated him to take the lead for the future year. Brian had never had much of a chance to be a leader until this point of his life. He took to it like a fly to a light. Brian grew into his role as a marching band leader. He tried to be the example every person in the band could look to as the example of a perfect marcher. Brian understood he was not the best trumpet player, but marching was something he excelled at. High school became a wonderful experience for Brian due to marching band being a part of his life. The friends he made might not have been life long friendships, but the experiences were life altering. One of the biggest and most important band friendships Brian became one that would last a lifetime.
College
College life for Brian started at Waubonsee Community College. Brian wasn't really sure what direction he wanted to go for a career. He thought he wanted to become an architect or engineer of some type, but his retirement dream sounded better. Brian wanted to retire to teach history and coach baseball, a plan that turned reality (sort of). At WCC Brian took some of the more rigorous history classes to see if it would be a subject he could turn into his life. After falling in love with history, he wasn't so sure about teaching it though. Brian was not an extrovert in any way and liked to keep to himself. While he didn't mind talking in front of large groups of people, he didn't necessarily like it either. History seemed like a wonderful fit to learn about, but teaching was really the only career choice for him.
Brian found himself in a conundrum. He took a teaching class at WCC that didn't really help him decide, but he had enough credits to graduate and needed to apply for university. His choice led him to Aurora University. He knew they had a good education program, because his girlfriend went there. Going to AU seemed like the obvious choice, but he still was unsure of being an actual teacher.
Starting the Fall of 2006, Brian was attending Aurora University, and he was living on campus in the dorms. He wanted the experience of living away from home. It was an interesting and exciting experience that led to some new friendships on campus. Brian had people to hang out with and become much more social. One of his friends called Brian out for being too much of introvert. She was a social butterfly who would say hello to everyone anywhere on campus. She was an important friend for Brian as she helped him break out of his shell a bit. They weren't particularly close, but spent just enough time together for Brian to feel more comfortable with the idea of being a full time teacher.
After being accepted into the education program, Brian started his second year at Aurora taking his observation classes along with a full course load. Brian seemed to struggle at getting all his work done at times, but he always meet his deadlines. Brian's ability to always work hard on his school work let him accomplish just as much as and more than people much smarter than him. Aurora University seemed to be a good fit for Brian. He got along with everyone in his classes and found ways to break out of his shell a bit more as well. After graduating Aurora University with honors, Brian began the long search for a history teaching position.

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