The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – Waitsburg Elementary School sixth-grade students will be welcomed to the classroom by a new face this year. First-time teacher Garrett Leahy will replace Sarah Reser, who resigned earlier this summer to accept a position as literacy coordinator for ESD 123.

Twenty-two-year-old Leahy is a recent graduate of the University of Idaho. He holds a bachelor of science degree in elementary education with endorsements in math and science.

Leahy is a Walla Walla Valley native and grew up on the family farm, Stubblefield Ranch, near Stateline. He says he is appreciative of the work ethic and skills he has learned while farming wheat, peas, and garbanzo beans.

He attended Assumption K-8 School and DeSales High School, where he played baseball and basketball.

Leahy said the teaching gene seems to run in his family. His mother teaches third grade at Assumption School; his aunt teaches third grade at Berney Elementary School; and his uncle teaches P.E., also at Berney.

Leahy said he was "dead set" on going into engineering until he completed his high school senior service project working under Robin Peterson in her third-grade Green Park Elementary School classroom.

"After the first day I was hooked! I loved the kids; seeing the effect you can have on them and watching them grow. I loved seeing the change in just one semester and realizing that you can make a difference," he said.

Leahy started the engineering program at U of I, but switched to education halfway through the first semester. "I knew teaching was for me," he said.

Leahy completed his student teaching in Richland where he taught math and science to two classrooms of 30 fifth grade students. He has also done some substitute teaching in Richland.

Leahy enjoys coaching, and volunteered as a Babe Ruth coach for four years in Walla Walla. He also assisted his master teacher coach a fourth grade AAU basketball team in Richland. He hopes to do some coaching in Waitsburg in the future, but said he is focusing on settling in as a teacher for now.

Leahy was just wrapping up harvest work on the farm two weeks ago, when he was notified that he had been accepted for the Waitsburg teaching position. Since then he's been scrambling to organize curriculum and ready his room for the year ahead.

Leahy describes himself as a "very hands-on" teacher and said he is especially excited about the social studies curriculum which focuses on ancient civilizations.

"I look forward to getting started and learning on the go with my students as I learn with them throughout the schoolyear," he said.