Though Mrs. Lauren Zarandona majored in physics as an undergraduate, she is not a physics teacher.

“I went into college thinking I would major in either math, physics or chemistry,” said Zarandona. As a college student, she thought the fields would be most practical in finding a job after college, but found her passion in education. Choosing to major in physics at Rhodes College, she achieved a bachelors in the field, but through summer internships in Washington D.C. for the Society of Physics Students, where she created exams, she became inspired to become a teacher. She earned her master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Mississippi through the Mississippi Teacher Corps.

Before coming to MSMS, she was teaching in the Mississippi Delta region when a retiring MSMS math teacher urged Zarandona to apply for her position. Zarandona “avoided her for months,” but the emails kept coming. She eventually applied and fell in love. 2018 marks Zaradona’s fifteenth year at MSMS.

In her lessons, Zarandona engages students in difficult math through familiar concepts. “I try to make lessons where I start with something kids know and build from there,” said Zarandona. She uses thought-provoking prompts to grab students’ fleeting attention, like the question of “whether births are evenly distributed across the days of the week” in statistics class. “That makes everyone interested because everyone has a thought going in and math can verify what they’re thinking or cause them to reject what they thought was true,” said Zarandona. Other attention grabbers include statistics problems involving drugs, because “the minute drugs come up, kids pay attention.”

Along with teaching AP Statistics, Trigonometry, Algebra II, Zarandona teaches Logic and Game Theory. One of the most unique MSMS classes, Logic and Game Theory is taught yearly in the spring. The class is centered around the study of logic and problem solving through games and puzzles.

“Logic and Game theory is a blast because we get to do very practical math in that games and puzzles are around us all the time. Any kid, regardless of their major, will have an opportunity to apply what we learn in the class later in life. Really, I feel like, that’s the most interesting and most unique class that I teach.”

Zarandona’s involvement in math outreach spans all grade levels and age groups from the Math Superstars competition, to superhero themed breakout boxes, to sponsoring the MSMS Mu Alpha Theta. She strives to promote an interest in math throughout Mississippi.

“A lot of kids in Mississippi don’t get to experience math outside of what their teachers got out of a book. I try to just hope to bring teachers and students alike more interesting math so that they can recognize that there’s more than just state tests.”

For fun, Zarandona enjoys cooking with her children, Silas and Isaac, as well as running. “We tend to eat plant-based foods, and coming up with ways to make beans interesting is like a lifelong goal.”

Zarandona encourages students, and all people, to “not expect perfection of yourself,” and to instead, “keep challenging yourself to be the best version possible.” She sends a message relatable to people everywhere.

“There’s going to be times when you’re tired, and you’re going to be a little off, but even through your tiredness, you just try your best. There’s going to be times where you create something that’s awesome and you can be proud of it, but at the same time, it’s not because it’s perfect—it’s because it was the best version of whatever you could produce at that time. So changing our mindset is so important, just to serve each other the best we can rather than to demand perfection. That would go for anything you’re doing in life.”