This year Sahauro is welcoming someone new with open arms into the Cougar family — Reece LeResche!

Starting next fall, Mr. LeResche has accepted a permanent teaching position in the English department, fitting him perfectly because of his deep rooted infatuation for English Literature and reading. “I love English. I’m a voracious reader and, as nerdy as this sounds, have a deep predilection for linguistics, specifically morphology and the etymology of words. And, yes, I did always know it would be English. I used to double major in English Literature and Spanish (I wanted to teach both) at U of A, but ultimately dropped the double major in favor of English Lit and Language.” Having attended both the UofA and ASU, Arizona State being where he got his teaching credentials, Mr. LeResche swears to us that he’s still a diehard Wildcat at heart.

New job: check.

Mr. LeResche is also a newlywed! Marrying his beautiful wife Chelsea in true Covid fashion — CDC approved, in their living room — didn’t make it any less special. “Chelsea and I are recently married. I proposed to her over a year ago in January 2020. Unfortunately, with Covid still looming and our patience razor thin, we decided to get married at the court and have our wedding at a later date,” tells Mr. LeResche. “However, as Covid dictates, we were not able to get married in the court room and had to get married at our house. I asked how we were supposed to accomplish this at home. Was there a portable Justice of the Peace I could take with me? Did I need to complete a tedious online class and become an ordained minister? No. Like the distancing solution to all of Covid’s problems, the justice would marry us via Zoom. And so, we did, right there in our living room.” The honeymoon is probably postponed too, but if we’re trying to be optimistic, at least they can say they had an intimate wedding at home with just the two of them during the infamous pandemic.  Both Chelsea and Reece are Sahuaro grads, but did not date in high school.  Reece is a friend of her older brother’s, and she always thought he was cute.  The two re-connected and that was that!

New wife: also check.

And they’ve also recently welcomed a beautiful baby girl Noelle into the world, later coming to believe that the name Noelle was fated for them. “I’ve never had a student named Noelle,” says Mr. LeResche. “This, of course, is the first standard any teacher must adhere to when picking a name for their child. Wouldn’t want to provoke any abysmal memories of the classroom each time I called out to my daughter. (Wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Totally kidding. But, coincidentally enough, when Chelsea and I were thinking of possible names a week before school started, ‘Noelle’ came up and I casually mentioned that I had never had a student named Noelle. Wouldn’t you know it? A week later and one of my seniors is named Noelle. It was kismet, if there is such a thing.” We’re just hoping she’s a heavy sleeper and doesn’t cry too much at night for their sakes. She is adorable though. Noelle Gray came into the world on April 5, weighing in at 7lbs 8 oz, and 20 inches long.

Lastly, new baby: check.

No one ever wrote the ‘How to Teach During a Pandemic 101’ handbook, so navigating through online teaching has not been easy for anyone, no matter how many years you’ve been teaching. But it seems Mr. LeResche has finally found his way. “Remote teaching has its ups and downs. I can say confidently that being back on campus has been great. I was a bit scared that my seniors would be totally spaced but we jumped right back into it without skipping a beat.”

Right now, I’m hardcore manifesting all of us going back to school for the 2021-22 school year. Not only so that we can be together again, but also so we can meet Mr. LeResche in person because he already seems like a student favorite. So if you’re going to be a senior next year, make sure to keep an eye out for his name on your class schedule.