Leahy is a 3rd grade teacher and Department Head at Shady Hill School, where she has been for almost 30 years.  She received her B.A. in Environmental Biology from Middlebury College, and her M. Ed. from Tufts University. Leahy embodies the power of experiential learning by implementing a year-long study of whales and whaling, which includes a mock whaling voyage around the globe. Students become familiar with not only the mechanics of whaling, but also the social and political climate of the time, the customs and practices of other whaling cultures, and the diversity aboard the New England ships.