LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Teachers are known to take their summer breaks to recharge before a new school year. But Daniel Lehe's method of recharging looks a bit different than most.
Over the span of seven weeks, Lehe, a third-grade teacher at Hershey Elementary, ascended seven of the highest mountains across the United States through a $15,000 Teacher Creativity Fellowship from the Lilly Endowment.
The grant, aimed at supporting K-12 educators throughout Indiana by providing resources for them to take time for meaningful renewal, allowed Lehe the ability to cross several of the highest summits off his bucket list. A hobby Lehe said he fell into by "accident" in 2018, it is a fulfilling challenge he regularly trains for despite living in a relatively flat state like Indiana.
For the past several years before the beginning of a new school year, Lehe said he has worked to mail post cards to his incoming third-grade students, hoping it excites them for a new year with a new teacher. This year, Lehe said he chose to send post cards to his students showing them his adventures from over the summer.
Seen in each of Lehe's photos: a 3-D printed logo of the Hershey Elementary Panther mascot.
"Getting to live out the dream for a bit and then come back. ... I know it sounds a little cheesy, but I wanted to try to inspire the kids to go after what they're passionate about," Lehe said. "I want to encourage them to chase those goals and dreams, too."
A lesson he tries to relay to his students through his mountain climbing experiences is the value of a strong mentality, Lehe said. Although he trained for the summer filled with hiking, there were some days where he didn't quite feel up to the challenge, but he pushed through anyway.
"Once I actually got on the trail, I never once stopped to wonder if I could do this," he said. "When I did my very first mountain ascension in South Dakota, I can remember starting the trail thinking, 'If I make it to the top, it'll be fine.' Now I can look back at that and see that was nothing compared to what I accomplished this summer."
Emery Henderson, a third-grade student in Lehe's class, said hearing from her teacher before the start of the year and seeing images from his trip made her want to find an outdoor adventure of her own.
Starting the year fielding questions from his new students curious about where his adventures took him, Lehe said, made for an easy ice breaker to get his students off on the right foot for a new year.
"Hershey is lucky in that it's a small enough school that I typically know half of my students before they step foot into my classroom," Lehe said. "But for those kiddos who don't know me, I just try to do these post cards as something to get them excited coming into our classroom, but being able to share this adventure with them, too, has been a lot of fun."
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal and Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ellison_writes.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Hershey Elementary teacher shares his mountain climbing achievements to inspire students
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