Lauren Comerato, a former student teacher at the high school, returned this year to teach art electives Metals, 3D Design and Sculpture and Drawing for Understanding in Field Science. Comerato grew up in Framingham, Mass. where she taught for three years and completed her undergraduate degree at the Massachusetts College for Art and Design (MassArt). In her free time, she likes listening to music, reading mystery novels and making art.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What brought you into teaching?

I love talking with people; I love sharing common interests. If I can have students get the same amount of love and excitement over art that I have, then that means I’ve done my job well. I always knew I wanted to share that excitement, and I think art is a really big community builder in a lot of places. Being able to come in as an arts educator, you’re already building that community within a school space.

Has art always been a big part of your life? How has your relationship with art developed?

I think I’ve just always been an artsy person. I started with painting and drawing probably when I was about five or six, and I was lucky enough to get put in classes and community workshops and all that kind of stuff. I started getting more into sculpture and three-dimensional work probably when I went into my undergrad at MassArt, but I always knew that I wanted to teach; that was always part of it.

What is a fun memory you have from high school?

I always went down to the art room and was creating work, but I was also a softball player so I was involved in a lot of different things within school. I was doing art, I was doing student government and I was doing sports, so I feel like I was just always constantly busy. The friendships within those small circles are what stick out to me the most.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

I love to read. I’m a huge mystery fan, so I love to read all different kinds of mysteries. My favorite mystery book is probably “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie. I also hang out a lot with my family. I love to take care of my little houseplants and, obviously, make art.

What kind of music do you like to listen to?

I went to see Noah Kahan at Fenway, and that concert was amazing. It was his last show, so it was a huge, fun concert, and the weather was beautiful, so that would be the highlight. I feel like no matter what I’m doing, I have to have some sort of music playing. I’m also a die-hard Swiftie, and I know that’s a polarizing opinion, but I love my Taylor Swift.

What’s a hope you have for your students?

I hope they leave this class with an understanding that art is more than just painting and drawing. I think that’s one thing that a lot of people that come into this space end up thinking, and while that is a really huge part of the art world, there’s also sculpture, there’s metals, there’s ceramics, there’s craft-based things. I think allowing them to see outside of just that two-dimensional kind of work is something that I always want my students to take away.