Elizabeth Van Horn captures meaning in photographs

Mrs.+Van+Horn+helps+her+student%2C+Mark+Chaney%2C+with+his+pottery+project.

photo by Yesenia Montenegro

Mrs. Van Horn helps her student, Mark Chaney, with his pottery project.

by Lindsey Russo

Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.

— Aaron Siskind

Elizabeth Van Horn wants to show her students the meaning in photography.

Mrs. Elizabeth Van Horn is the new photography teacher. She went to the University of Delaware for graphic design and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  She’s been a teacher for six years and enjoys her job.

She wanted to teach photography because she has experience in photo editing and she used to work for Urbanite Magazine in Baltimore. She would help the art director and would come up with ideas for the magazine at Quince Orchard High School in Gaithersburg, MD.

She is also the teacher for ceramics, and they’re working on projects like glazing a tile and making their tea bowls.

When Van Horn was in high school she was the captain of the swim team, a journalism student and was involved in many clubs like the Art Honor Society and the newspaper. She enjoys swimming, skiing and doing yoga.

One of her students, Fatima Rosas, “She teaches us to make our art better and guides us along the process so we can improve our work.”

This is her first FCPS high school position. She taught general art to elementary school students. She likes high school students because they are mature, and she likes engaging with them.

Van Horn said, “The most important thing I learned in high school would be to maintain a balance with your schedule and use your time wisely by managing it and students should get involved because high school is only four years so they have to make it worth it.”

Van Horn likes Linganore because the students are willing to be challenged, and it’s a very nice environment. 

“Mrs. Van Horn is nice, and she gives you demonstrations on what we’re working on so you know what you’re doing,” Class of 2019, Fatima Rosas said.