For over four decades, Social Science Teacher James Leahy has been shaping the minds of students across subjects, including mathematics, history and science. Most recently, Leahy has been teaching eighth-grade civics and world history at Trinity since joining in the middle of the 2023-24 school year. After 44 years as an educator, Leahy made the bittersweet decision to move on to his next chapter in life, retirement, as he helps his wife through health issues.
“I think it’s wise for me to prioritize my wife and be there with her, be more present as a grandfather and to be there for my daughters in and around their lives a little bit more,” Leahy said. “Kind of time to just turn the page and check out a new adventure.”
Leahy began his teaching career in Los Angeles, California. During this time, he gained important insights about life and the craft of education through conversations and experiences. The lasting impact of these experiences eventually led him to the path of international teaching.
“In our conversations, it became apparent to me that teaching is a portable profession,” Leahy said. “I don’t need anything other than a stick in the sand and students, and we can learn. Where we learn doesn’t make any difference. When I came to that realization, I said, ‘Well, then I’m going to head out. I’m going to go out and work internationally,’ and that has been where my career has been most of my life.”
Across the span of eight different countries, Leahy taught a wide range of subjects and students. Throughout his journey, he interacted with many new cultures both in the countries he was teaching in and in personal travels, learning just as much about new cultures in the process. He then applied what he learned in his lessons in the classroom. He first started teaching in Venezuela, then accepted various opportunities in other countries, including a year in Bangalore, India.
“I met my wife, my children were born in that process, and they went to the schools I worked in,” Leahy said. “So it’s been a wonderful life for us, and that decision to go international started it all.”
Leahy primarily taught at independent schools, similarly to Trinity. What was different, however, lay in the fact that most of the places he worked at were Pre-K through 12th grade. In addition to the classroom, Leahy also worked in several school administrative roles throughout his life, but he missed the fun student interactions that these administrative roles lacked, despite their positives.
“In many of my jobs, I was an administrator in the schools too, so I would work during the summer times or work during the holidays,” Leahy said. “It is important to do work during those times, but they just don’t feel like a school. School’s not a school until there’s kids in the classroom walking around the halls and being goofballs on the playground.”
Due to his abrupt introduction in the middle of a school year, forming a strong, trusting relationship with the students initially posed certain challenges. However, this transition period turned out to be one of his favorite moments from his time at Trinity.
“(My favorite memory) would have to be that first group of girls in my advisory who were initially, or maybe even still, quite skeptical of this dude coming in to take over for their advisory teacher,” Leahy said. “So I remember the first couple of times with them where they were kind of looking like, ‘Is this guy for real?’”
Throughout his career, Leahy has observed numerous shifts not only in the field of education and among students, but in the world broadly. He realizes that what carried importance then isn’t necessarily what is important now in many ways. This is certainly the case in education as well.
“The world today is much different from the world when I started teaching, so all that content that I was so concerned about as a young teacher doesn’t mean anything anymore,” Leahy said. “It means something in many ways, but it wasn’t the content that was important. It was how we learn, because the circumstances are going to change.”
In anticipation of his retirement, Leahy has taken time to reflect on the impacts he has had on students throughout his career. In the end, it was kindness and a selfless desire to help set students up for success and growth that drove him. He hopes students realize that when looking back.
“I think I’m intellectually intense in that I want to get into the very deep learning that’s possible, so I hope kids will remember that that’s what I was pushing all along,” Leahy said. “I hope they remember the skills that allow them to think deeply. I hope they feel that I’ve been in their corner and that I’ve been on their side through the adventure of middle school, which is oftentimes kind of a challenging time for kids, and I hope they’ve had fun.”
