Science teacher goes beyond the books

Bridget Lundquist was recognized by Cranbury for excellence in the classroom

By: Jessica Beym
   Before Bridget Lundquist became a science teacher at the Cranbury School, she was a teacher in the "school of life."
   Or at least that’s what she told her students.
   Today, more than five years after she left a career in hospitality management, Ms. Lundquist, who lives in Freehold, teaches not only life science, but also the skills her students will need later in life. And in her journey to earn her master’s degree in teaching, she’s picked up a few new skills of her own.
   Because of her success, the teachers and a panel of parents from Cranbury have chosen her for the Governor’s Teacher Recognition Program. Ms. Lundquist, along with other teachers across the state, will be honored at the Pines Manor in Edison later this month.
   Even though teaching wasn’t Ms. Lundquist’s first career choice, her love for science is obvious in her classroom, where she has taught hundreds of middle school students over the past five years, including her three daughters, Brittany, Brianna and Brooke.
   In one corner of the room, a few lively green plants sit by the window, absorbing the sunlight and next to them, a self-contained ecosystem, which appears to be a fish tank to the untrained eye, trickles water down to the organisms that live there. The room overlooks the gardens in the courtyard that Ms. Lundquist planted a few years ago to use as an extension of her classroom ecology lessons.
   On the walls near the chalkboard are posters explaining the classification of living things and one hand-drawn sign that reads "Ms. Lundquist — the Evil Science Teacher."
   One of Ms. Lundquist’s daughters drew the sign earlier this year, she said, but she doesn’t plan on taking it down.
   "I think some of the students agree," Ms. Lundquist said, laughing.
   Over the past few years of teaching sixth, seventh and eighth grade, Ms. Lundquist said she has learned it is her job to be the students’ teacher, not their friend. She said she doesn’t get involved in the lunchroom gossip and the personal lives of her daughters and her students.
   "That’s not my function," she said. "My function is to challenge them."
   Through hands-on experiments and field studies, the annual Science/Technology Expo and the annual sixth-grade overnight environmental outing, Ms. Lundquist said she always tries to find a way to challenge them academically.
   But she also tries to teach the students responsibilities and study skills. When the students come into the classroom and tell Ms. Lundquist that they are confused about the homework assignment, she said she tells them, "Good. You’re supposed to be confused."
   She tries to answer a question with a question and if they get something wrong, she tells them to figure out how they got there. And, she said, she’s not afraid to admit when she doesn’t know something.
   "It’s not about right or wrong, it’s about effort and the steps that you take to get there," Ms. Lundquist said. "The journey is important. It trains your brain."
   Ms. Lundquist said she enjoys teaching middle school because her own interest in science was sparked at that age and she thinks it’s a good time to attract the students to the subject, while also teaching them to be experts in their own learning.
   "I get to see the enormous growth that these kids experience," Ms. Lundquist said. "By eighth grade, I see them bring the skills together, which is why I have to expect more from them. And in high school, either they like it or they don’t, so I want to catch them before they make that decision."
   Even though she said she’s always wanted to be a teacher, giving students different study methods and finding effective ways to reach those who learn differently wasn’t something Ms. Lundquist said she was completely capable of when she first began.
   "I always had a natural curiosity," she said, as she talked about her early love for teaching science to the neighborhood kids during the summers of her childhood.
   "We’d have class in my basement and I’d tell the kids to bring lunch and snacks. I’d even take them out in the yard to explore. I was always a teacher, even as a kid, and in my job in the hotel business."
   After Ms. Lundquist graduated from William Paterson University with a degree in biology, she said, she began to work in the hotel business, then later decided to go back to school to be a certified teacher because she wanted to have more time with her children and her husband, Craig.
   Last week, Ms. Lundquist finished the last course necessary to earn her master’s degree from Marygrove College, a distance learning school in Michigan. The 18-month program designed for teachers has been intense, she said, but worth it because she’s been able to improve her classroom management skills and methods of teaching.
   "It takes a few years, but you pick what works," Ms. Lundquist said. "I first came in here with a lot of enthusiasm, but I think I’ve replaced that enthusiasm with experience.