Getting to know Ms. Leavens

To continue our Achona focus on teachers and their lives outside of school, we caught up with English teacher Angela Leavens to tell us something about herself the Academy community might not know. From her skills showcasing outer beauty to her dedication helping disadvantaged foster girls, Ms. Leavens does it all, in school and out.

Leavens is a certified aesthetician who attended an aesthetician program run out of Jefferson High School during the evenings throughout her high school career while a student at Robinson High School. She decided to get her license because when she was in high school, most Hillsborough county schools offered a class for various Florida certifications like A/C technicians, auto mechanics, etc. 

Leavens’s favorite part about being an aesthetician is the fact that doing lashes allowed her to support her daughter financially and she was able to create her own schedule to spend more time with her. She said the thing she least enjoyed was having to hunch over because it caused her neck and back pain. 

When asked what she would do differently, she said, “I let my license expire and wish I wouldn’t have. I stopped using it as I focused on school, but it is harder to renew once it expires.”

She stopped being a lash tech once she decided on her career path in education in order to dedicate herself full time to the classroom. 

When asked why she decided to become a teacher, she said, “Both of my parents worked in the school district for my entire life. I used to pretend play as if I were the teacher. Even though I have considered several other careers, teaching, and education are what I was always drawn back to, and as cliché, as it sounds, I think it is what I was born to do.” 

Although Leavens is now a dedicated educator with nearly a decade of experience, she still uses some of her aesthetician skills on her daughter. Leavens does her makeup and hair when her daughter is going to cheer and even just when she wants to dress up.

Another new aspect of Leavens was revealed in her dedication to community service. Leavens started a non-profit chapter of a national organization called “Chick Time.” According to the Chick time website, “Chicktime is a movement empowering women to stop the cycle of child abuse by going into children’s homes/shelters and loving on the kids.” When asked about it, Leavens said “We work with a local foster residential program, Miracles Outreach Community and Development Center which houses teen girls that have been victims of abuse, neglect, and/or human trafficking.

Every year, the organization hosts a big back-to-school drive with school supplies for students. This year, a rose project here at Academy will be involved with Chick Time.