I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing my Newspaper teacher, Ms. Leah Glotzbach, about all of her different roles within the Episcopal Community and outside of school. Here are some of the takeaways from our conversation.

What was one adversity you have had to overcome, and how did you accomplish this? 

Mrs. Glotzbach made a profound statement that “adversity comes in different forms.” She shared that one of the biggest adversities she has had to conquer was her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). After her pregnancy with her first daughter, Blakely, her OCD was the most severe it had ever been. She “managed that level of type-A for the first time” and “for [her] that was so big because [her] perspective changed.” Mrs. Glotzbach was more easily able to let go and understand that everything did not have to be perfect, putting the focus on her children. 

You have many roles within school and outside of school. How do you handle these responsibilities and keep up? 

Mrs. Glotzbach shared that she has an extremely organized system, with a specific calendar. This calendar has “rows for everyone in the family” and that “it is updated at all times.” And before she leaves school every day, Ms. Glotzbach goes through everything she has to do the next day so she does not have to worry about it when she is at home. And for all the things that she has to do at home, Ms. Glotzbach puts it in her phone before she goes to bed, so she does not think about it. 

What made you decide to teach at Episcopal? 

  Ms. Glotzbach attended Mercer, where she met her husband. But, before she got married to her husband, Mr. Spence Glotzbach, he attended graduate school at Florida State University, and Mrs. Glotzbach stayed at Mercer for graduate school.

While in graduate school, she was offered a job at Northside High School and taught there for two years. Ms. Glotzbach then taught at Maclay School after she and Mr. Glotzbach married, as he still had a year of his JD/MBA program left. Shortly after graduating from his program, Mr. Glotzbach was offered a job in Jacksonville, and Ms. Glotzbach interviewed and was offered an English teaching position at Episcopal. She thought it was a good fit because “it was very similar to the school [she] grew up attending.” 

If you could give one piece of advice to your students what would it be? 

A really good piece of advice that Ms. Glotzbach wishes to give her students is to avoid “stressing about insignificant matters or things you cannot change.” Life can turn out in so many ways, and there is no reason to worry about things you have little or no control over.

Image courtesy of Ms. Leah Glotzbach.