This year, Mt. SAC Early College Academy (MECA) welcomes Samantha Lujan as the new art, ceramics, and esports teacher.

Lujan is not new to teaching art, as before she came here, she was already teaching visual arts at her previous school.

“I was working in the Corona Norco Unified School District before I came to MECA. I was at Corona High School teaching visual arts, drawing, and painting,” Lujan said.

Growing up, she found lots of inspiration from her dad, who did art for fun. Later, she became entranced by art and soon fell in love with it. As time moved on, she went to college to learn art history and more.

“I kind of always assumed I was an artist,” Lujan shared. “It wasn’t until I got into college that I kind of figured out that I was good at. But at a young age, I remember doing like the average scribble drawings, and then I found myself making these sculptures out of found objects and attaching things together.”

Her strong passion for art also seems to reflect on her students, as many of them shared that her teaching methods also allow them to have fun and channel their creativity.

“She’s really attentive to her student, and I love her energy. She’s really focused on her students and teaches us a lot… she makes learning fun, and I enjoy being in her class, talking to her, and just being with her. She’s calm and makes the room atmosphere very still, which is nice,” says Trinity Camacho, a sophomore who takes art.

Lujan is also the new esports teacher at MECA, a class where students learn more about video games that contribute to developing skills utilized in various games such as Valorant, Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros, and many more.

Mia Romo, a senior at MECA who takes the esports class, explained, “She’s really nice and talks with us about stuff that we like, such as video games and stuff. She’s really cool and taught us stuff like communication and more.”

Mia is not alone when it comes to feeling this way about Lujan, Mercedes Padilla, another senior who takes the esports class, added, “She connects with the students a lot and it’s really fun… What we do in there is we practice teamwork and collaboration. I think many of the students enjoy it, and it teaches us that as a team, things become easier and it’s more fun.”

With all of her classes to handle, Lujan continues teaching her class in a way to keep her students engaged and enjoy learning.