Ms. Sarah White is Leesville’s 2025-26 Teacher of the Year. White teaches various levels of English as well as Creative Writing. She is also the advisor for the school’s Literary Magazine.

White has been a teacher for 18 years and started at Leesville in 2014. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in Teaching from Earlham College.

“I struggled a lot when I was in school, so I think that had a lot of impact when I chose to become a teacher… I had several opportunities that linked back around to teaching… and I come from a family that had a lot of teachers,” said White.

Her favorite English texts are Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. She praises Things Fall Apart for its importance to African literature and enjoys the complexity of The Crucible and Hamlet.

“Getting into the reading is important because it’s a struggle all around with just sitting and reading. It doesn’t matter if you’re a regular student or an honors student or struggling; I think it’s just important to sit down and read,” said White.

During class, White will often carve out some time for independent reading, so students have a chance to make progress in their book. She will also organize small group discussions that allow deeper analysis of the text, keeping students engaged.

Violet Jordan, junior and member of the Literary Magazine staff, said, “I love reading Antigone. I liked when she had us read all of the parts… I like how she incorporates everyone in her class. I never felt pressured to talk but she did try to get everyone to participate, which was nice.”

White also personally interacts with her students, regularly coming around to each of them to check in about grades or how they are doing in class. She is always willing to sit down and work with a student individually, whether reading their essay, explaining the text, or helping them find resources for research projects.

White also teaches Creative Writing. The class offers students an opportunity to express themselves through fiction, as opposed to the non-fiction analyses students write in English or History classes.

Gabby Harris, junior and member of the Literary Magazine staff, said, “I liked how [Creative Writing] was a no pressure class. While it was structured, it wasn’t a lot of pressure compared to other classes. I appreciated that, and that motivated me to work more.”

White encourages creative expression not only in her classes, but also throughout Leesville, as the advisor for the Literary Magazine. The magazine publishes a couple times a year, and is a culmination of original poetry, prose, and artwork that Leesville students create and submit for publication.

“We get to read a lot of different people’s public works. You get to sort through everything and see young authors. I’ve learned a lot about other writing styles. I’m well versed in writing research papers and nonfiction, but there’s a lot of fiction and poetry in there, and I’ve learned how to [work with] that from reading other people’s stuff,” said Jordan.

“It’s kind of a club that’s based on other people, since we use writing from other students. It lets me learn about other people’s perspectives, and literature is such an important device to learn about others,” said Harris.

The Literary Magazine is student-led, so the staff learn how to work together and coordinate tasks among themselves to create an impressive final product.

“I really love giving students an opportunity to be leaders in the school, to edit other students’ work, and to advocate for our literary magazine. What I loved last year is that I had a staff that we finally got off the ground and could be in print for the first time,” said White.

White makes an impact at Leesville every day, fostering an environment where students can grow as readers and writers, as well as gain an appreciation for English literature.

“I feel like she gets a lot of people who aren’t really connected to the school, and she definitely makes them like it,” said Jordan.

“She makes it personal. You can really tell when she teaches that she has a really big passion for English, and that’s what I really appreciate. Her enthusiasm for English makes you want to learn, and that’s what she bases her classes off of,” said Harris.

LRHS congratulates Ms. White on all of her hard work and wishes her the best of luck in the next stages of the WCPSS Teacher of the Year nomination process.