From secretary to teacher: Lisa Marie De Leon begins a new chapter at Arden Middle School

For years, Lisa Marie De Leon was a familiar face in the front office at Arden Middle School. As a secretary, she answered phones, greeted families, helped students, handled attendance and learned the many moving pieces that keep a school running each day.

But this school year, students can find De Leon at the front of her own math class. 

“I've wanted to be a teacher since I was four,” De Leon said. “My mom will tell you, she would walk into my room and I was teaching my stuffed animals.”

After several years working as a secretary, she explained that it was actually another Arden educator who encouraged her to revisit the dream she'd had since childhood.

“I became friends with the math department chair, and she asked me why I wasn't a teacher,” De Leon said. “And I said, ‘Well, I've always wanted to be a teacher,’ and she kind of convinced me to go back to school.”

Quietly, De Leon did just that and completed her degree online. 

Arden’s principal Teresa Cummings said that De Leon’s move into the classroom felt like a natural next step. She had already seen the qualities De Leon brought to the school through her work in the front office.

“She was incredibly dependable, intelligent and adaptable,” Cummings said. “She built strong relationships with both students and staff, and I always knew that if I asked her to take care of something, it would be done thoroughly and correctly.”

Those same qualities, she said, have followed De Leon into the classroom, where her ability to connect with students has become an important part of her work as a teacher.

De Leon said she has known for a long time exactly what she wanted to teach. Her interest in teaching math dates back to her own experience with algebra in middle school, when she had some difficulty learning the material until another teacher was able to teach her from a different perspective.

“In that 15 minutes that he explained it to me, I understood basically the entire year's worth of math that I didn't understand with the other teacher,” De Leon said. “I remember thinking, ‘This is what I should be doing. I want to be able to help other kids the same way.’”

Despite already knowing the school, her colleagues and many of her students, walking into her classroom on the first day brought a new set of emotions.

“I was very nervous,” De Leon said. “I didn't want to mess up. I didn't want to be a disappointment because I already did know everybody.”

Moving from the office into the classroom has also allowed De Leon to see a different side of the students she has known for years.

In the front office, she often interacted with students when they had been sent out of class or were dealing with a problem. Now, she gets to spend each day seeing those same students learn, participate and succeed.

“Being in the classroom, you get to see the positive side of kids,” De Leon said. “Even the kids that normally were sent out of class, I get to see the good side of those kids, and I really enjoy that side.”

Cummings said the relationships De Leon developed before becoming a teacher have helped make that transition possible.

“Students saw her as a safe, caring adult long before she became their teacher,” Cummings said. “Some of our most challenging students responded especially well to Lisa Marie because she had a unique ability to build trust and make them feel valued and supported.”