Coming from a decade of city and suburban living, Leah felt an immediate sense of connection and relaxation arriving to Midland. For the first time, she could let her kids go out to play without the risk of oncoming traffic. She has always felt her particular family was made to thrive in community living. Her life of instilling confidence among young people and her habit of investigating all possibilities for well-informed decisions was a natural fit for the Director of College Counseling role.

Leah made a point to travel a lot before starting a family, and she taught in Burkina Faso for 3 years where class sizes were between 60 and 100 students. Her best memories of travel are those in which a camera was not available and she used her five senses to commit ephemeral moments to memory. She has visited Beijing solo without knowing Mandarin, researched captive kangaroos in western Australia, and climbed up to the Dogon cliff dwellings in Mali.

In her free time, you can find her appreciating nature, doing science experiments with her son and daughter, and reading the New Humanitarian to keep up on international news.