When Suttons Bay middle school teacher Lauren Petz learned she had been named one of Northwest Education Services’ Outstanding Educators of the Year, her first reaction was disbelief.
“I was completely shocked,” Petz said. “You get up and you do the best you can with the tools that you have and the resources you have and try to do the best work you can for the kids you have every day and you don’t think about the fact that anybody’s looking.”
Petz has been a teacher for 18 years now and has spent the last seven at Suttons Bay. Despite her long tenure at the school, this is only her first year teaching math after spending her career teaching chemistry and science.
Back in college Petz studied chemistry but realized during her senior year that her heart wasn’t into pursuing a Ph.D. Upon reflection, she realized that after years spent tutoring other students through high school and college, she might have a knack for and a desire to teach.
“I felt like I could actually do this,” she said. “Friends of mine that hated chemistry and didn’t like science and didn’t get it. I felt like I could make it more accessible to them and other people because I loved it.”
That idea fueled her early years teaching high school chemistry downstate before she and her family moved to Leelanau County around 10 years ago. After moving, Petz stepped away from teaching for a couple years to deal with and recover from burnout. She returned to work through Suttons Bay’s virtual school program, teaching middle school and high school science online.
She then got called up to become part of the team tasked with helping design and rebuild Suttons Bay’s stand alone middle school.
“It was kind of weird — I feel like life is just a series of crazy events and you just kind of take it and run,” she said of being picked for the team.
At the time, the middle school students were in a wing of the high school instead of their own space due to years of declining enrollment. One teacher, near retirement, was a strong advocate for the creation of a true middle school space, and was eager to see it built before she left.
“She was one of our most senior and respected teachers and they kind of gave her the go ahead to talk to the staff and create a team,” Petz explained. “And she came to me and asked if I would consider returning to the classroom.”
The administration allowed the team a significant amount of input on everything from choosing the elective classes to the physical layout and aesthetic design of the school itself.
“It was a really cool experience to start and really decide, what should our space look like? And what other opportunities can we offer to these kids?” Petz said.
Now in its fourth year, the middle school will be graduating its first class of eighth graders since the redesign.
This year also marked another major transition for Petz as she transitioned from science into teaching math full time.
“It was a little scary at first, but it’s been something that I felt like I really wanted to add to my certificate for quite some time,” she said, and after recent years of teacher turnover in the math department, Petz felt like she could be a stabilizing force.
“Our kids need stability and they need people who are going to be here in their corner for them,” she said.
Though stepping into a new subject after 18 years in science was intimidating, Petz said she’s approached it with the same curiosity and openness she tries to encourage in her students. She will often remind them that she is learning alongside them and isn’t afraid to admit mistakes in the classroom.
She tells her students, “I’m trusting that you’re going to catch my mistakes and I’m going to catch yours.”
As can be expected at a small school, Petz wears hats beyond science and math teacher, and has taken on roles including teaching choir and coaching seventh grade boys basketball, even though she had no previous coaching or choir teaching experience.
“Sometimes you end up doing things that are way outside of your comfort zone just to make it happen,” she said.
That small school atmosphere not only changes what her day to day duties might look like but genuinely shapes her mindset when she walks in everyday.
“You’re not just a teacher here, you’re a part of something much bigger,” Petz said. “We’re building people, right? Not just learners.” And beyond that, Petz just wants her students to feel seen, “I think the biggest thing is that they know that they’re welcome and they’re cared for and that I’m excited to see them.”
An awards ceremony, open to the public, for the 2026 outstanding educators will be held on Wednesday, June 3 at 6:30 p.m. at the City Opera House in Traverse City.
Editor’s note: Lauren Petz is the wife of Suttons Bay Superintendent Casey Petz.
