Leesville High will lose a bit of history when one of the founding members of its faculty retires January 22. Mrs. Petty, a career and technical education teacher who has been teaching since she was 23 years old, will step down after a long career at Leesville.
Petty came to Leesville when it was just beginning in 1993. She started in the attendance office for a year and a half before moving into a classroom.
Unlike English or Physics, Petty’s courses over the years illustrate our changing society with new technology. “Since I started at Leesville, I’ve taught Keyboarding, then Computer Applications, then Microsoft Office, Word, Powerpoint, and Publisher and Accounting 1,” said Petty.
One of the things she likes most about teaching is at the end of the semester when she sees what the students have learned. “[It’s] pretty exciting because as you go through the semester you only see individual parts, but at the end when you do a review or you have the big exam, you get to see it all come together.”
Asked about her fondest memories, Petty replied: “Probably the funniest moment was when I had a student ask me if I remembered when the Titanic sank, and I was shocked. I’m not that old I said. And he was serious, he was very serious, he thought I was as old as the Titanic, but that’s not the case.”
Petty will miss the many friends and colleagues she has made here at Leesville. “Students and all of my colleagues, staff members, it’s a big variety of people that I enjoy being around.”
Maggie Weathington, a former student of Petty, said Petty was a very thorough teacher. “She made me learn a lot. I miss her class; I had a lot of fun in it.”
“I think the whole focus for the school is to prepare all of you for what you’re going to do after high school, whether it’s high school or work. I think most of the staff works together to get that done.” said Petty.
Mrs. Caudill, a CTE colleague, also admires Petty. “She’s kind of like the CTE mom,” said Caudill. “She has been doing this for so long, she has so much knowledge about computers.”
“We call her Grandma Frankie because she’s kind of like the grandmother of our kids,” said Caudill. She will miss Pettys hard work and dedication.
“It’s a great place,” Petty said. “There are a lot of really nice people here, and it’s a really great place for all the students to learn. ” It’s fair to say that plenty of people at Leesville will greatly miss Petty, too.
