LANA ARNZEN'S THREE RULES: STUDY, TAKE NOTES, BEHAVE

Lana Arnzen has three basic rules for her sixth-grade students at Oran Elementary School - study, take notes and behave properly.

"I explain to both the students and their parents that these goals should take them through their period of education as well as through their working lifetime," Arnzen said.

"The goal I try to reach each year is for students to feel success on his or her individual level. Since success breeds success, a student's self-esteem and self-confidence builds."

Arnzen encourages kindness and respect for others. Class meetings begin with each child complimenting someone else. Responsibility and self-discipline also play into Arnzen's computation for success.

"I also tell the class repeatedly : `You must be number one in your life! If you don't like yourself, no one else will either,'" she said.

Arnzen became a teacher after her associates degree landed her a minimum-wage job. "At this point, I re-evaluated my dad's idea that teaching was a wonderful profession for a family-oriented woman. It paid fairly well and you were home in the summer with your children.

She earned a bachelor and masters degree in education and has been teaching 16 years, 12 at Oran.

She and her husband Ervin Arnzen Jr. have three children, Lori, 14, Jessica, 10, and Craig, 4. She enjoys gardening, canning and traveling as navigator in the family airplane. They are members of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Kelso and the Tri-City 4-H Club.

"Teaching is a very gratifying job. Each time a student who has been struggling to learn a skill looks up and says `Now I get it!' I feel good all over."