Peyton Zaletsky, Reporter
@peytonzcourant
At the start of the 2019 school year, the high school welcomed eight new teachers, including Michael LeDuc, into the building. Mr. LeDuc, who spent the 2019-2020 school year teaching Geo-Physical science and AP Environmental science, has recently taken on the role of Co Department Chair for the science department. Mr. LeDuc enjoys running, coaching, and backpacking, but did he always know he wanted to be a teacher?
From a young age, Mr. LeDuc has always been interested in science and the natural world. “Science is an exercise in making sense of the world around us and finding the truths of the world around us. I love trying to understand that complexity,” he said.
Mr. LeDuc developed an interest in teaching from the numerous influential teachers he had at school, most notably his high school band teacher. “The way he valued us as students and believed in us made me see the value of being a kind teacher and how it goes beyond what you teach,” he said.
After graduating from Connecticut College in 2014 with a degree in Botany, Mr. LeDuc took his first teaching job at Glenbrook South High School in Chicago. After living there for a few years, he decided to move back to Connecticut in order to be closer to family. It was then that Mr. LeDuc took on the role as science teacher at New Canaan High School. “I was very fortunate to find a job here and I feel very lucky that there was an opening in the year I moved back to the state,” he said
This year, Mr. LeDuc is now Co Department Chair for the science department, taking on the position that was previously held by Timothy Haag. “I really valued Tim’s mentorship. We taught the same course together last year, so we collaborated on a daily basis,” he said. “I really enjoyed hearing about what he was doing in his role as chair and just learning from him,” he said.
One of the classes Mr. LeDuc is teaching again this year is AP Environmental science, a class he loved teaching last year. He said that one of his main goals in this class is to unify and connect different topics students learn in school rather than keep them as separate units. “I think education tends to get soiled into separate tracks, but really you need to have a good foundation in all of your core subjects in order to be an effective communicator and someone who understands the world around you,” he said.
Last year, the AP Environmental students created public service announcements on what they believed were the most important environmental topics. These were then posted on the Courant website as a celebration of the 50th Earth Day. “Students used skills they learned in their english or phycology classes in order to learn how to effectively change people’s minds and how to communicate in their science classes,” he said.
Aside from teaching, Mr. LeDuc is also an avid runner, a sport he began in high school. “I was a mediocre soccer player and one of my teachers realized that my only strength in soccer was that I was a decent runner, so he encouraged me to join cross country,” he said. “He saw some potential in me that I didn’t and ultimately it shaped where I went to school and a lot of things about my life.”
While at Connecticut College, Mr. LeDuc won a handful of awards and titles for running, including being an All American nine times for cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track, a national champion in cross country in 2013, and a national champion for the steeplechase in 2013 and 2014.
Photo contributed by “The Day”
Although Mr. LeDuc didn’t achieve all of his goals, like making a USA championship or having the division-three ultimate record, he enjoyed the process of trying “I think running and athletics gives you a really tangible set of goals and something to strive for,” he said.
Along with teaching, Mr. LeDuc was also the assistant track and cross country coach last year here at the high school. However, this year he has decided not to continue with coaching in order to focus on his role of department chair. “I love coaching because it was a great way to be with students in a different context. With taking on the role as department chair I just felt like there were too many demands on my time,” he said. “I don’t think I could be the coach I wanted to be with limited time.”
When it comes to coaching and teaching, Mr. LeDuc believes that both are similar in the way that he can support students and give them positive feedback. “Even when a student gets a bad grade or does poorly on a test or in an athletic context, it’s an opportunity to learn and an opportunity to grow,” he said. “Things aren’t always going to go our way but you have to adapt and learn how to prepare differently in the future.”
Aside from coaching and teaching, Mr. LeDuc also enjoys hiking, walking his dog, and backpacking. In fact, Mr. LeDuc has gone on a one hundred mile backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains. He enjoys backpacking for the same reason he loves running: there is an objective. “You have an objective or target for that day with everything you need in the world on your back,” he said. “All of your daily activities are getting you to the destination, and you are enjoying the process as well.”
Mr. LeDuc is very excited that by being the new Co Chair of the science department, he now has the ability to help more than just the students in his class. “I see this as a way to have an increased positive impact on students beyond the 80 students I used to have in a year,” he said. “I think I can help make changes that will have positive impacts on all the students that take science classes, not just the ones in my class.”
