Laura LaChappelle

Laura LaChappelle measures her success as a teacher not through the money or rewards she earns but rather by what goals her students achieve. “When I taught theater during the first part of my career, I told my students I wasn’t in it to hear my name mentioned in an Oscar acceptance speech, I was working to see each of them grow in confidence, poise, and communication skills,” she recalls.

LaChappelle is the Social Studies department chair and now teaches AP World History and Honors World History at Jackson High School in Jackson, Georgia. Her biggest influence as a teacher has been her family, as she says she “wants to be the kind of teacher I want my own children to have.” In fact, LaChappelle has taught all of her own children at various points throughout their education!

LaChappelle teaches at the same school and in the same department as her husband, Jason. “Sometimes that means our lives are crazy,” she states, “but we wouldn’t have it any other way.” And her favorite topic to teach? A true history buff, LaChappelle has a hard time choosing just one era but has an especially strong interest in the Medieval and Renaissance ages as well as World War I.