If you haven’t met study hall instructor Mrs. Leann Nelson yet, don’t be scared to introduce yourself. Through her 21 years of experience at LFHS, she shares her fun memories but also the challenges she’s encountered when working with adolescents. Regardless, she will make sure that your study hall is never a bore.

What is your favorite memory since you have worked at the high school?

“Hmm, I have a lot of fun memories but I think the most fun was, outside, when we were doing musical chairs for the Homecoming pep rally and all the kids were chanting ‘Nelson! Nelson! Nelson!’ That was good.”

What is your favorite and least favorite part about working here?

“I love just working with the kids and just goofing around. It is fun to talk with them and get to know everyone. I don’t really like when I’m working with angry kids, like kids on a hold you know. There’s some that will be disciplined and then there’s some that have a lot of anger inside and it can be really hard to manage.”

What’s the most challenging moment you’ve experienced since working at the high school?

“There’s a lot of challenging moments. The most challenging moments are when a student comes up to you with really hard problems, and they don’t want you to tell anyone what they have going on but your job is to tell someone what’s going on. Like a family matter or a health matter or something with another student.”

You are known to label students  as “perpetrators.” What is the background behind calling students this comical word?

“There used to be a gentleman here, Mr. Slater, who used to work with me, and he actually came up with that, the perpetrators, and I picked it up. Kids don’t even know what a perpetrator really is half the time, but to me, I know what it is and it’s just funny. Study hall people don’t think that they are supposed to be working or doing their stuff. I always say that there are crimes against study hall, like eating skittles or you know, like perpetrating your crime.”

How did you decide to work at the high school?

“My daughter was in like fourth or fifth grade, and I didn’t want to send her on the bus every day, and it was a little too far for her to walk to and from Deerpath Middle School and I wanted to be able to be there after school. I wanted a job where I could easily pick her up after school and I wanted to work at a school, so I just did this. I ended up having my daughter when she came to the high school and she was a major perpetrator.”

What is your favorite outside-of-school activity?

“Well, in the summer I really like to get into exercise and I like to hang out with my dog. I used to do Pilates and train but, because of COVID, I stopped because I couldn’t go to the gym and Pilates classes were too full because only so many people could be there. I haven’t been back there in a while but I will be back this summer for sure.”

In high school, what were your favorite things to do?

“I liked to just go out with my friends, just go out to eat on Fridays, go to the movies. I still like to do these things now with my friends.”

​​How has being a study hall monitor changed since COVID started?

“It’s a hard job and kids have changed. Kids aren’t emotionally at their age bracket like I feel like freshmen have the mentality of an eighth-grader and sophomores have the mentality of a freshman, and it’s like they lost a year. They just need to catch up. I also really miss my old room because it was a little more quaint. There were less kids in there and now I have a ton of kids. But, I love this room cause I love being in the library. This is a real advantage for me because when some study hall supervisors send their kids out; they don’t know where they are or what they are doing and that’s kind of a disadvantage. I like being close to my kids, it makes things easier.”

How has COVID changed your routine at school?

“COVID has changed it because of the difficulties of masking and the three feet away and you have to bug kids more about that. Nobody wants to tell kids that they can’t be close to their friends and to pull their mask up 50 times a day, nor do the kids want to hear that. It makes the job harder.”

What’s your favorite update to the high school since you’ve worked here?

“I like the commons area. I didn’t think I’d like it but I actually really like it. It’s a lot different. There used to be a cafeteria in the library and a stage. There used to be a garage, you know where the choir area is now, and they used to do automotive work there and it was really cool. My room used to be right above them.”