Lesser Provides Opportunity To Learn Variety of Skills
22 year teaching at PLHS and still going strong!
by Taylor Akagi
Rita Lesser has been teaching at Perry Lecompton High School for 22 years. She graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Vocational and Occupational Home Economic Education . In December of 2007, she achieved a master’s degree in arts and education from Baker University.
“My junior high Home EC teacher had a big impact on me, she was totally awesome. I was also involved in 4-H. Food and clothing came very easy to me,” recalled Mrs. Lesser. “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do until I took an internship through an extension office. I really didn’t enjoy it so it confirmed my choice of wanting to be a teacher.”
Over that period of time she has accumulated a number of different classes. Currently , she is teaching Textiles I and II, advanced foods, and nutrition and wellness. She also teaches Responsible Parenting, Today’s Family and Life Skills, but some of these semester classes are only offered every other year. Mrs. Lesser is also teaching her third 8th grade class called exploration in F.A.C.S., which was recently added one year ago.
“Textiles II always looks forward to doing individual projects, it’s really just their own path of learning while I look over their shoulders,” said Mrs. Lesser .Textiles II is currently starting samples and will move on to their own projects soon. Students can sew a wide range of clothing from pajama pants to purses.
“I try to encourage community service incorporated into the student’s projects,” explained Mrs. Lesser “In the past students have designed dolls and teddy bears to give to children in the hospital and sewed blankets to give to residents in the nursing home.”
For the remaining semester students will work with a variety of sewing equipment, perfect seam finishes and work with different sewing techniques. Textiles II is offered to sophomores and up.
Textiles I is offered to any grade. They are currently working on their label law projects. Students must create a new product to market and sell to consumers; they must then present them to the class. Later in the semester students will learn about consumer rights and responsibilities, fabric construction and finishes, technical reading and math, garment construction hand sewing and machine sewing.
This semester students enrolled in nutrition and wellness will learn and work on things such as food prep skills, different cooking units, and the interrelationship between life style choices and the physical, social, emotional and mental components of wellness. After students complete the nutrition and wellness course they can then continue onto advanced foods if they see fit.
Advanced foods will have a lab on the 24 of January. For this lab students have a choice of what they wish to cook. Some students planned courses of shrimp and rice while others picked wild entrées like the Californian favorite chocolate gravy and biscuits.
“Students have about eleven labs all together,” said Mrs. Lesser. “Next Tuesday students will make candies and in the future learn to prepare red meats, yeast breads, soups and casseroles.”
Every day 8th graders travel down the hallway toward the high school and turn left instead of right. This semester the nine students enrolled in Exploration in F.A.C.S are working on “me bags”. Students share their interests which they then present to the class.
“The project really helps me get to know to students,” said Mrs. Lesser. “It’s a really good beginning project for the students, which also goes along with the personality unit they begin at the start of every semester. Exploration in F.A.C.S is just basically a beginner class for the students to decide what they like and if they want to continue onto other classes in their high school years. Students get a little taste of everything.”
