Born and raised in Southern California, specifically in Anaheim, first-year AP Computer Science Principles (APCSP) and programming teacher Kimberly Gustin grew up surrounded by the beauty of Orange County. She attended Fullerton College, where she played on the women’s tennis team, and California Polytechnic University, Pomona, where she earned a Bachelor’s in Operations Management and later a Master’s in Educational Multimedia.
Gustin has lived in two states including California and Maryland and has held a variety of jobs, from working at Disneyland in outdoor vending to making clam chowder in bread bowls at California Adventure. Her innovative thinking has even been featured in the Cal Poly Alumni Magazine, where her senior project on optimizing shift times for vendors at Disneyland saved the company money in overtime costs.
Though originally headed for a business career, Gustin found her true calling in teaching after years of coaching high school tennis. “I realized my skill set to teach others was better suited for the classroom instead of a boardroom,” Gustin said.
Her passion for helping high school students succeed, whether their next steps are college or the workplace, solidified her decision to become a teacher, which she has been doing for 23 years.
At school, Gustin’s impact extends beyond the classroom. In addition to teaching APCSP, she supports the school’s DECA chapter. “Being the State Association Advisor for DECA for the last five years has exposed me to so many people throughout Maryland. Now that I am just helping with Wootton DECA, I feel like I can use the knowledge I have gained to help Wootton DECA be the best version of itself,” Gustin said.
Gustin’s passion for education shines in her teaching style as she uses her creative approach to inspire students to be just as innovative. “She gives good lessons and tries to engage the class,” freshman Yeszhan Mukhangaliev said.
This interactive approach resonates with students like sophomore Samantha Missoi. “She helps me learn because she adds a lot of detail in her slideshows and what she tells the class. It’s easy to understand what she’s telling us, so she’s setting us up great for the AP exam,” Missoi said.
Gustin’s AP classes have a strong record of success. Last year, her students at Richard Montgomery High School had an impressive 89.7% pass rate, significantly higher than the Maryland state average of 61.3%. Though she’s cautious about predicting outcomes for this year’s exam, she remains optimistic. “I would hope I can stay on the same trend I had at RMHS and at least be in the 80th percentile, if not higher,” she said.
Outside of teaching, Gustin’s passions include tennis and photography. Though she is taking a break from playing tennis due to a broken ankle, she still enjoys photographing sports events, and her work has even been displayed at the Orange County Fair, the second-largest county fair in California.
In her first year here, she said she has been amazed by the friendliness of both students and staff. As she continues to settle into her role here, it’s clear that Gustin brings experience, creativity and dedication to the school community.
