Hello! I am Courtney Leja, a mathematics teacher at Nipmuc Regional High School. The 2019-2020 school year will be my eleventh year teaching, and I can truly say that I am a Nipmuc Warrior at heart. I love the students of Mendon and Upton, I love the parents, and I love the community. These towns and all of their inhabitants show pride in supporting and actively participating in a high quality educational system that produces inquisitive, independent, critical thinkers. It makes teaching in this community a truly enriching and fulfilling experience.
As part of my personal philosophy, my two most prominent core values are (1) the greatest thing a person could ever learn is that they are never done learning, and (2) volunteerism makes the world go 'round. I believe that everyone's journey in life should be to continually strive to be a better person today than you were the day before. However, to do that, you need to have valuable experiences, and you need to learn from them. One of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes is, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better." This is one of the real-world lessons that I hope your children learn from being with me in my classroom. The other is that you should take pride in your community and do your part to make it a place that anyone would want to live, and to do that, you need to spend some of your time volunteering. I know we are all busy people, but I feel like we can always find a way to give back in some capacity. I usually follow the rule of two: If everyone at Nipmuc (or in your community) volunteered for two causes or organizations, our school (/community) would be a better place for all.
Here at Nipmuc, I run the Ski Club and I co-run the World Challenge travel club. Outside of school, I co-run two non-profit adult softball leagues in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. I run a non-competitive women's league in the spring and summer, and in the fall I co-run a competitive co-ed adult softball league. When I need to re-energize my soul, live music always does the trick. Though I can be found listening to any genre from reggae to alternative rock, my favorite genre is soul music, and my favorite artist of all time is Otis Redding. I love to read, but usually when I pick up a book, it is non-fiction reading pertaining to my interests: astrology and numerology... Must be the Gemini in me!
As part of my personal philosophy, my two most prominent core values are (1) the greatest thing a person could ever learn is that they are never done learning, and (2) volunteerism makes the world go 'round. I believe that everyone's journey in life should be to continually strive to be a better person today than you were the day before. However, to do that, you need to have valuable experiences, and you need to learn from them. One of my favorite Maya Angelou quotes is, "Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better." This is one of the real-world lessons that I hope your children learn from being with me in my classroom. The other is that you should take pride in your community and do your part to make it a place that anyone would want to live, and to do that, you need to spend some of your time volunteering. I know we are all busy people, but I feel like we can always find a way to give back in some capacity. I usually follow the rule of two: If everyone at Nipmuc (or in your community) volunteered for two causes or organizations, our school (/community) would be a better place for all.
Here at Nipmuc, I run the Ski Club and I co-run the World Challenge travel club. Outside of school, I co-run two non-profit adult softball leagues in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. I run a non-competitive women's league in the spring and summer, and in the fall I co-run a competitive co-ed adult softball league. When I need to re-energize my soul, live music always does the trick. Though I can be found listening to any genre from reggae to alternative rock, my favorite genre is soul music, and my favorite artist of all time is Otis Redding. I love to read, but usually when I pick up a book, it is non-fiction reading pertaining to my interests: astrology and numerology... Must be the Gemini in me!