Twenty-six years ago, Leslie Moore Gurley, 63, found herself thrust into the world of education.

“My friend and mentor, Margaret Goode, knew that I spoke Spanish and asked me to take someone’s sabbatical position for a year,” she recalled. “My youngest was in second grade and I was bored and felt that I could do anything for a year.”

Gurley is a self-described “army brat who married a Navy submariner.” However, she has been settled in Lake Charles for the last 32 years.

She graduated from Roswell High School in Roswell, Georgia before attending the University of Georgia to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology.

She then earned a Master’s in Business Administration in International Business from Georgia State University.

After finding a love for teaching, she received her teachers certification from McNeese State University.

The first year of her teaching career she taught at Westlake High School. For the next 19 years, she taught at Iowa High School.

She is now closing out her sixth year as a Gifted Advanced Studies teacher at Iowa, Westlake, LaGrange and Sam Houston high schools.

She is a hybrid teacher that travels to Iowa, Westlake and Sam Houston to teach gifted and regular AP Human Geography. Her morning classes are hybrid and she streams to students at other schools. In the afternoons, she is housed at Sam Houston High School.

“During the first months of COVID, although school was shut down, I conducted class via Zoom every day in preparation for the May exam,” she explained. “The following year with COVID and the hurricanes, I did the same thing plus a virtual class for students throughout the parish that chose to remain at home.”

Throughout the years she has taught Spanish one through four, French one through four, world geography, world history, fine arts survey, contemporary issues and currently advanced placement human geography.

Gurley takes every opportunity to synthesize her curriculum with current, real world topics. “The course I teach encourages students to talk with their parents about current events and world issues.”

She is often told by parents that their kids turn into adults in her class, which is something that she takes note of herself. “I love seeing the freshman grow and mature throughout the year and the confidence they exhibit upon taking the AP exam.”

Gurley is raising future leaders, so every time her student leaves her class as an adult, it is a sign that she is doing her job, and doing it well.

It is a job that she takes seriously. “I feel a need to set the bar high and keep it there.”

She aims to fill her students’ gaps in education, but she doesn’t make it easy. “Kids have not been pushed enough to learn what they are capable of… I love them and encourage them and stick with them, but they know that in the end the grade is all up to them.”

According to Gurley, to be an efficient teacher one must have two passions: the subject you teach and guidance of young people.

A fire for teaching is also vital. “Enthusiasm from the teacher rubs off onto the students,” she said.

This is especially important for “troubled students,” she said. “When I hear about a problem kid coming into my class, I make it a point to get to know them and prove the gossips wrong.”

“There is good in every child – just find it.”