Walk into this year’s new honors and AP chemistry teacher Mr. James Leddy’s first period class and you may hear a series of jokes about the elements or music by Bastille playing during the morning musical warm-up. It’s definitely not your average chemistry class, but then again, Mr. Leddy is not your average teacher.

He explained that he has always loved chemistry, especially the labs. 

When it comes to teaching, he said, “One thing for sure is that a textbook does not accompany my teaching style.” 

Rather, he explained, “Chemistry is a super challenging subject, and making class interactive and fun for my students to make the subject easier is more my style.” 

And his students agree. 

When asked how she felt about Mr. Leddy, junior Selda Oksuz commented, “Mr. Leddy is a cool teacher. He always does these mini-experiments for the elements of the day and starts off class in a very interesting and fun way!” 

Senior Talia Newman could not agree more. 

She explained, “He is a great teacher [because] I have actually learned so much already.” 

It is no shock that at his last school, Franklin Towne Charter High School, Mr. Leddy’s amazing chemistry teaching skills even got him the chance to be on ClassH-Room. 

However, chemistry is not Mr. Leddy’s only area of interest. He also loves to teach math, reading and forensics. He also has a strong interest in volunteer work and was the NHS adviser at his last school. 

“I have worked with the Ronald McDonald House for the last ten years. It is just something I do as a hobby and I love promoting volunteer work,” he explained. 

When asked to reflect on his time at HH so far, he was quick to note that “it’s been almost a year since I have been back in the classroom, and it’s great to be back.” 

But HH is definitely a different experience from his last school.

 Mr. Leddy explained, “For starters, every single student has their own school-issued laptop and there are no uniforms.” 

Regardless, his time here has been off to a great start. 

He said, “HH is very progressive, responsive and student-focused.” 

And when Mr. Leddy is not in the classroom or out volunteering, he is either out for a run (while jamming to EDM) or binging Food Network. 

Mr. Leddy enthused, “I love food: talking about it, cooking it, baking it; it is why I love working as a waiter after school as well.” During class one day, Mr. Leddy even recalled that he got to serve singer Harry Styles during one of his shifts. 

With Mr. Joseph Carapucci retiring at the end of last year, there were some big shoes to fill in the chemistry department but Mr. Leddy fit the role perfectly. One could even say Mr. Leddy + HH yields a perfect balanced equation.