Below is a transcript of a recorded interview I had with Ms. Leppanen in late May.
Q: What are some of your hobbies outside of school?
A: [Ms. Leppanen points to a poster with a Starbucks coffee cup on it] Well…. Drinking coffee is one of them! And it’s not just Starbucks. It’s coffee. Period. Oh, hockey. I love hockey, I grew up watching my cousins and going to, you know, events. And now I go watch the Silvertips or Thunderbird Silvertips… And traveling! … I was an exchange student, and then I’ve kind of just kept it going, and that’s why I had the exchange students last year, and I’ll be going next summer and spending an entire summer in Europe.
Q: Ooh, that’s fun. Which countries?
A: Denmark. I’m gonna go back to my host family and where my family had an exchange student from, and I have a friend that’s moving to England, and so they’ve offered me a couple of days… there, and a friend from high school is living on the Scottish borderline, so they said “come and visit.” And then I’ll hit Germany and go see some family friends, and then I’ll hit Spain in two different sections because I have friends that moved… just outside of Valencia. And then I’ll go see my exchange student, Ava.
Q: Are you from Europe?
A: My family is, yeah.
Q: Which countries?
A: My dad is German-Irish, my mom’s Scotch-Welsh.
Q: Okay. Back to Granite. Do you have a favorite place in town?
A: A favorite place? I love the Thai place restaurant. I really do. But really, my favorite place is watching you guys play the spots and activities. It’s what I’ve done for the last 10 years, you know. And then boating, like… to go out on the flowing lake in this good weather.
Q: So, what brought you to Granite Falls?
A: A friend of mine said that there was an opening. I was commuting from Wenatchee to Skycomich every day for years, and they said, “Hey, I know there’s an opening, why don’t you apply for it?” And I did. And ten years later, I’m still here.
Q: If you weren’t a teacher, what do you think you’d be doing?
A: I was in finance before becoming a teacher, and I would probably still be doing it.
Q: Do you have a role model or someone who has greatly influenced your life?
A: I had a couple of teachers in high school, and, well, actually had a couple all the way throughout that were advocates for me because I have dyslexia, and special services did not exist for people like me back in the 80s and 90s, and they just helped me a lot, and especially my high school English teacher, every year, she made sure that she offered me one class that I needed to graduate, and she made sure I was put in her class.
Q: What’s your favorite book, song, movie, or show right now?
A: Of all time would be Les Mis. I love Les Mis, Phantom of the Opera, absolutely, because I liked seeing it in the play form.
Q: Do you have a favorite snack or food?
A: I do. Chocolate is my favorite snack, but it’s not healthy for me. So otherwise, I love popcorn. Lots of popcorn.
Q: Do you have any secret talents or hobbies that might surprise people?
A: The staff has learned… that I’m a pretty good cook, and I bring in some amazing things as far as skills and stuff… No? I mean, everybody kind of knows what I do and what I enjoy. I mean, I think my best skill is probably being a patient mom.
Q: How has your view of teaching changed over the years?
A: When I got into special education, the view was to support my nephew, who needed a lot of support, and I was going to become his new homeschooling teacher. And then it morphed into this. I really liked it, so I became a teacher, and now I take great pride in the students I help get across the stage. I mean, it’s a lot. And I look back at the kiddos that have graduated 10 years from here, and some of them I am still in good contact [with], like, they let me know when they’re having a baby or when they’re getting married and it’s because they genuinely believe that I value them as humans, as people, so I was able to bridge that connection.
Honorable mention from an interview in January:
Q: How would you define success for your special education students?
A: Being able to complete any task, to the best of their ability. For them to have as much independence as possible whether that be getting a driver’s license or holding down full-time jobs. Going on to have career paths, going to college classes, being able to advocate for themselves because their disabilities are quite often invisible… But when they advocate for themselves, like, “Hey, I need this to be successful,” That, to me, is success.
Thank you, Ms. Leppanen, for taking the time to chat with me! And thank you, mystery person, for requesting this article so we could learn more about Ms. Leppanen!
I previously believed Ms. Leppanen was amazing―but now I know she’s legendary!