By Joe Luken
August, 2009. My dad comes home from work and hands me a folded piece of paper. It is the schedule for my Freshman year at Lloyd Memorial High School. I look it over and am pleased: Gym, English, Social Studies, Math, Spanish and Science. Not too bad, I think. Science isn't my favorite class, so maybe I can take a nap at the end of the day from time to time. Boy was I wrong.
Over the course of that school year, and plus the following two, not only would I barely get ANY sleep in science class, but I would come to immensely learn from and respect Mrs. Erin Pleiman.
Mrs. Pleiman started at Lloyd the same year I did, although as I soon found out, this was definitely NOT her first rodeo. She had taught for many years at Dayton High School in Dayton, Kentucky. As was earlier stated, I came to respect Mrs. Pleiman, something from her students that is of much importance to her.
Mrs. Hodges, a Social Studies teacher at Lloyd taught with Mrs. Pleiman at Dayton said, "There wasn't a lot of respect for teachers from the students. There wasn't much administrative support either." Thus the decision to look for another teaching position and as Mrs. Pleiman has put it, "I just felt like it was my time to go." From a recommendation from Mrs. Bryson, a Math teacher at Lloyd, Mrs. Pleiman applied at Lloyd and passed the word onto Mrs. Hodges.
When asked about what it was that made Mrs. Pleiman appealing to Lloyd, Mr. Riehemann (Lloyd's Principal) said, "It was Dayton's good recommendation because that's what I take the most stock in more than anything. If I interview someone, I know them for two hours and they tell me only what they want, but if someone I already know tells me about someone they've worked with, then I get years worth of information that is much more in depth and in the same two hours."
This is when my path crosses with Mrs. Pleiman's; with me walking down first hall and into room ten. From then on, Mrs. Pleiman was my only Science teacher until my Senior year when I ran out of classes to take that she taught. She has taught three Science classes at Lloyd: Integrated, Biology and Special Topics in Environmental Science. With all of these classes, Mrs. Pleiman has taught a large percentage of the school, from basic to honors and from Freshman to Seniors. "That's my favorite part," she says. "Being able to have students multiple years and watch them grow educationally and personally, I just love it."
Mrs. Pleiman has many positive things to say about everyone here at Lloyd, "The diversity of students here was a big draw to me. Plus, you all are very accepting of other students, I haven't seen as much of that ever before in a student body. As I graciously accepted that compliment on behalf of the student, Mrs. Pleiman carried on about the teachers and other staff members. "I love the staff. I transitioned very well into place because of staff suggestions and their helpfulness. The staff prepares the students very well because of how well prepared the staff is by the administration." While she continued, she made clear that she is NOT trying to "bash" Dayton. "This is a very professional environment. The administration takes care of the teachers and will do absolutely whatever they can to help us teachers out, letting us focus on really the most important thing, which is teaching. This is definitely the best staff I've ever worked with.
When I asked about Mrs. Pleiman's move from Dayton to Lloyd, Mrs. Hodges said, "She was excited. The shift was a bit challenging, but. With the move, she finally wanted to feel needed, wanted and appreciated."
Well, Mrs. Pleiman, I hope that your experiences here at Lloyd over the last four years have been what you wanted, which is exactly what you rightfully deserve.
