Destined to Teach

Social Studies teacher Leo Brown loves his job: "This is great! I love doing this!"

Many would think that someone who loves his job so much would have been doing it for quite some time. However, Mr. Brown has only been a full-time teacher for four years.

Mr. Brown graduated from Le Moyne College in 1973 with a degree in history. After college, Mr. Brown became a grocery store manager for P&C Foods and Peter's. Along with that, he spent five years selling office equipment. But once Peter's went bankrupt, he decided to be a teacher.

Mr. Brown went back to Le Moyne in 2005 in order to get his masters degree. After that he became a substitute teacher at J-DHS, which led him to a full-time position. In 2006 Mr. Brown took over for Dominic Lisi who left during the middle school of the year. He has been a permanent teacher at J-DHS ever since.

Next semester will be Mr. Brown's fourth year teaching. This year he teaches four different courses: Global 10 Regents, Global 10 Applied, Practical Law and U.S Military History.

Mr. Brown doesn't have a written out way to teach. "I just do what I do," he said. "I give homework and tests on all chapters." He uses textbooks because he feels that textbook gives the students a solid direction to go forward. He also usually begins his classes with current events.

He shares his room with Daniel Law, another history teacher at J-DHS, and a teaching resource he taps. Mr. Brown says the two of them get along great, as they are constantly joking around with each other.

Mr. Law has nothing but nice words towards Mr. Brown. "He is a kind and generous man," said Mr. Law. "He gets my mail for me every single day. I don't believe I have ever had to go up [to the Main Office] to get it."

Mr. Brown's efforts are not only directed towards teaching history. He is adviser to Mock Trial and the Ping-Pong Club.

Outside of the school walls, Mr. Brown runs a couple times a week and participates in charity races. For example, he ran in the ARC race this summer. ARC is an organization that benefits kids in need. When he is not preparing for races he still does his best to stay in shape. He also participates in a spring softball league.

"I love being at J-D," Mr. Brown said. "My wife graduated from J-DHS, the faculty is wonderful. I am really impressed with the social studies department and Mr. Gasparini is awesome."

It seems as though Mr. Brown was always destined to be a teacher. Just about everyone in his intermediate family was a teacher and many are still teaching today. It also seems that he was destined for J-DHS. He has lived in this area for most of his life. He now lives in DeWitt with his wife of 33 years who is a teaching assistant at Tecumseh Elementary School.

"The people at [J-DHS] are better than I could of hoped. All in all, this is super. It's the best job I've ever had."