Mary Propes came to Leesville when it first opened and stayed until her retirement from teaching in 2007. She participated in making decisions about the “new school” and interviewing prospective staff members. Propes has since retired from WCPSS and works part-time at Meredith College. However, still active with the Leesville community today, she is part of the Murphy Scholarship group and keeps in touch with many friends from her time at Leesville. “I learned patience; many of our early decisions took time to grow. I learned teamworking strategies to help develop the Leesville faculty spirit and build the idea of the Leesville Way. In other schools where I’d previously taught, all those intangibles of tradition, spirit, culture, legacy were already in place. Here at Leesville, the early faculty helped start that process. I’m proud of my role in that!”

 

“I am grateful to Mr. Murphy and those early assistant principals for including us in so many decisions. It created PRIDE and ownership in all aspects of the school from the very outset. Under their leadership, I would like to think my own leadership and teamworking skills increased during my years at Leesville.”

 

My Leesville experience taught me important lessons of working together to build something entirely from the ground up. It taught me not to underestimate the challenge of starting something brand new.”