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Social Studies Teacher Jason Lepeonka There For His Students and His Own Children

WHS Lions Pride Original Story:

by Grace Armogida

Social studies teacher Jason Lepeonka (also known as Lep) has been the soda drinking, mallet hitting, funny teacher at Walkersville High School for a number of years. Through the many interesting stories he has told over the years, Lepeonka has a niche for connecting to students. But what many kids do not know is how Lep got to where he is today.

Lep started his college education at Clarion University in Western Pennsylvania where he studied Secondary Education History. He then continued his education at the University of Maryland. “I wanted a way to reach kids. I felt that when I was growing up, I didn’t really connect with any teachers. So I wanted a way to be around and be a role model for kids,” Lepeonka said. But teaching was not the first thing that interested Lepeonka, “At the time I wanted to [get] into coaching but decided to choose the path of becoming a teacher.”

Just like the students today at Walkersville High, Lepeonka had a few jobs in high school, “In high school I was a pool cleaner and I worked at a golf course so I could pay for my car insurance.”

Sports were also a big part of Lepeonka’s childhood and teen years, “I played football where I was an offensive lineman and wrestled for a year.” Before starting at Walkersville, Lepeonka worked at Crest High School in North Carolina for two years where he was a teacher and a bus driver.

Outside of school Lepeonka has a busy life with his wife and kids, “Right now my hobbies are being there for my kids. I got out of coaching because it’s a small window that my kids are gonna want me around. My daughter starts middle school here next year and my son’s in high school so I really wanted to be around for them because growing up my father wasn’t for me.”

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Lepeonka does not have a favorite class that he teaches; he loves to teach each class he has for different reasons. “I really don’t have a favorite or a least favorite. I really do enjoy each class I teach because each one has a different aspect that I enjoy.” Lepeonka teaches mainly sociology and American Studies 2, “With my sociology kids I enjoy the discussion and the interaction and the laid back atmosphere, but with my AS2 kids I enjoy the history and the battles.”

One of Lepeonka’s favorite thing about teaching is “when you come into school every day you don’t know what the kids are going to say. Every day is different. When you think about some jobs when they go in and they crunch numbers, the same thing everyday. Yes we teach the same things every year, but everyday is completely different.”

Many students know Lepeonka by his mallet that he hits his podium with multiple times during classes. But most students do not know the story behind it, “14 years ago, we used to have orange carpet in here, so we used to play golf as a review game. Well I had a student in class whose father I golfed with every weekend. I told his dad that he kept falling asleep in class so his dad said to take that mallet and hit it against his desk. And since then that’s how the legacy and the history of the mallet started.”

Some of his senior students that have had Lepeonka for classes have great things to say about him. Senior Josh Clegg had Lepeonka as his American Studies 2 teacher, “It was a fun class and it was usually a lot of power points that kept us really involved.” Clegg admires Lep as a teacher, “I think he’s funny; he’s not a bad teacher which is good. He is really good at connecting and making relationships with his students.”

Senior Ryan Manchester, who has Lepeonka for both Sociology and American Studies 2, has similar feelings about Lepeonka as a teacher, “I think he’s a great teacher and a cool guy. He’s really interesting too. But since I have him first and second block I kinda hate his mallet that he hits.”

Overall, Lepeonka is a teacher that has gone through a lot to get to where he is today and is a favorite teacher to many!

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