Lesa is a special education teacher at South High School. She has been teaching for 34 years, starting at South Middle School before moving to South High seven years ago. She was inspired to become a teacher by many great educators throughout her own schooling, as well as by her parents, who were also teachers. Lesa loves being part of her students’ academic and social growth and enjoys the challenge of helping students reach their full potential and become more independent. For her, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a child’s excitement when they finally master a new skill or concept. A fun fact about her is that, as a teenager, her family hosted foreign exchange students from Japan and Denmark. At age 13, she spent a month in Japan with the family of one of those students.