My name is Angie Gustafson. I am from Bettendorf and have lived in the area most of my life.  I graduated from Marycrest and taught for a couple of years before staying home with my own children for many years.  My son, Jack, actually was a student of Mrs. Bonazzi in PreK,  so it is exciting for me to be teaching in his old classroom while being on a team with Mrs. Bonazzi.  He is in 8th grade at Bettendorf Middle School this Fall and my daughter, Emma, is a Senior in High School.  My children are both very involved in music and art.  My house is always filled with music and projects!  My husband Steve works for the Corps of Engineers as a geologist and also grew up in the area.   You might have seen him out and about, he loves to volunteer around Bettendorf helping keep our parks and streams nice.  When I am home with my family we love to hike, kayak, bike, watch movies, and host game nights with friends.

This Fall will be my sixth year at Lourdes and I feel so blessed to be here.   PreK is such a fun age to teach.  They are so enthusiastic and I love to watch them learning each day, from the littlest accomplishments to the biggest!  Some of my favorite things to do with my kiddos are the messy projects such as: making oobleck, tie dying t-shirts in the Spring, and making our Christmas surprises for parents.  I also love doing yoga outside with the kids in the courtyard on beautiful, sunny days.   I count myself lucky to come in each day and be greeted with smiles and hugs! Each year we do a big group fundraiser in our department.  Often we have done an Exercisathon for St. Jude's, but the past two years we raised money for Hands Helping Haiti, an organization that has built a school for children in Haiti and King's Harvest here locally.  Our three classrooms put together over 150 hygiene kits from donations from their families to send to the children in Haiti, and then we put together similar items for King's Harvest in addition to warm blankets, socks, and gloves for the homeless in our area.