Born to Teach

There are seemingly countless options regarding what job someone wants to pursue in the future. 

Delaney Gorton was not hesitant to decide what she wanted to do. 

“I always knew I wanted to teach,” she said. “After all, it is the family business.”

Gorton is the third generation of teachers in her family and is a new teacher at Lakeland High School.    

Delaney Gorton teaches English and is happy with her position at Lakeland. She grew up in Rathdrum, so Lakeland feels like home to her. 

Gorton graduated from Lakeland High School. Her roots run so deep here that Lakeland’s baseball field is named after her grandfather, Terry Gorton. 

During her high school years, not only did she excel at writing and English, but she also participated in cross country.

“Ms. Gorton was an impressive cross country and track distance athlete who qualified for state and is ranked in the top female runners for our school over the last few decades,” said LHS teacher Shannon Hall.  

Gorton’s passion for teaching has been with her for as long as she can remember. 

“It’s something my family has always done, and looking back on it, it’s something I have always done,” she said. 

Gorton would always tutor her friends and teach her younger siblings what she was learning in school. Now, she has the opportunity to teach high school students at Lakeland.

Gorton was hired after landing her first teaching gig at Mountain View high school, her student teaching position, and worked at Mountain View from November to June. However, this will be Gorton’s first full year of teaching. 

She completed her student teaching last year with Shannon Hall as her mentor teacher.  

“I feel very fortunate to have worked last year with Ms. Gorton as my student teacher,” said Hall. “Because she is so competent, I knew my students were receiving the education they deserved while she was in charge of the classroom.”

When she is not busy teaching, Gorton likes to settle down at home.  She loves to tend to her small garden, hang out with her roommate, and play with her roommate’s pets.  

She doesn’t have a favorite book, but she recently read and enjoyed Dracula by Bram Stoker.

“I look forward to being here and contributing to the culture of Lakeland,” said Gorton.  She can’t wait to make a positive impact on the students at Lakeland High.