From circumnavigating the globe with his family to guiding students in the classroom, James Leahy takes on a new role at Trinity as a middle school Social Science teacher where he teaches United States History and Civics. By taking on a job in Trinity, he returns to a sense of normalcy after teaching in 9 countries in 33 years.
Leahy started his journey by majoring in Political Science with minors in biology and mathematics at Whitman College. He earned his Masters in Secondary Education at Towson University and in International Educational Administration at The College of New Jersey. With this background, he went on a journey with his wife to explore and teach the world.
Leahy and his wife traveled and worked in Saudi Arabia, India, Bulgaria, Mexico, Kuwait, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Starting out as a teacher in math and science, he swiftly took up administrative positions in the first schools that he worked at.
“I was a part of the executive leadership in Mexico City and then I’ve been ahead of school for the last three schools I worked at,” Leahy said. “So a headmaster throughout all of those years, though I continued to teach classes, most of the schools I worked at had the IB Diploma program, and I taught classes in not only mathematics, but I taught a physics class and a class called Theory of Knowledge.”
While teaching, he was simultaneously learning new languages.
“I don’t have a proclivity for languages. My daughter does when she speaks Arabic and Spanish fluently. When would she ever learn Arabic? She’d never learn Arabic if we were here in the United States, so I think the opportunities afforded our family have been wonderful and I would encourage anybody thinking about going overseas to go do it.”
Looking for a new adventure at Trinity, Leahy plans to embrace the Trinity community while giving back to it.
“I think Trinity serves its community and the community appreciates that service and I think that mutual respect is something that is invaluable,” Leahy said. “Trinity, unlike any other school, gives students the freedom to do what they want to do, and we’ll push them towards that.”
