Welcome to another school year. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Lisa Leskien, the morning Prep-time teacher at Centennial Grand Woodlands. I will be teaching the arts to Mrs. Reeder's and Mr. Soden's classes, and gym and health to Mrs. Turnbull's class. I have been teaching for 11 years, and I welcome to opportunity to bring some of my strengths to CGW.
I have a background in the arts. I have a degree in Fine Arts from York University - Majoring in Studio Art, where I explored many mediums, but really enjoyed painting and printmaking. I look forward to bringing some fun art projects to the students at CGW.
I am a competitive runner. Over the past 8 years, I have increased the distance that I race to include ultra marathons. In 2009, I was named to Canada's National 100k team to compete in the world championships in Torhout, Belgium. Later that fall, I was selected to run for Canada again as a member of Canada's National team to compete in the Commonwealth Ultra and Mountain running championships in Keswick, UK. I had my best 100k performance there, finishing 6th and leading the Canadian team to a Bronze medal team placing. I took a bit of a racing break after that (to have a few children), and I was happy to learn that my racing times didn't slow down. Last year I was named to the Canadian team again, and travelled to Winschoten, The Netherlands for the 100k World Championships. This past winter, I tried snowshoe running for the first time. I have been working to prepare to compete in some major snowshoe running competitions in early 2017. I bring this passion for running to the students at CGW as I coach all of the running teams at the school.
I look forward to an exciting year, and meeting many wonderful people at CGW.
