Honored Citizen 2024

Michelle LeFeber came to work in Scio in the fall of 2000 when she was hired to teach 1st grade at Centennial Elementary. She had previously been teaching, for a year, at Gates Elementary after graduating from Western Oregon University. She taught 1st grade for 9 years and has spent the last 15 years teaching 2nd grade. She loves the excitement and love of learning that working with younger students brings.

During the 22/23 school year, she had her first 2nd generation student (she taught both her mom and dad). She’s sure there will be many more before her retirement. She has been involved in many different roles throughout her years in Scio. She has served on numerous school and district committees, has been a mentor to many new teachers, as well as, worked with student teachers for local colleges. Michelle was the president of the Scio Classroom Teachers Association for 8 years and is currently the treasurer.

In addition to those things, most recently, Michelle became the teacher leader of Scio district’s New Teacher Mentor Program. This program helps new to our district teachers, partner with existing teachers to receive mentorship. She works to bring training resources to them in order to address the issue of teacher retention in our small schools. “We want to attract and keep great teachers in Scio,” Michelle said. Michelle was chosen in the fall of 2023 as the Oregon Small Schools Teacher of the Year. She was recognized for her 24 years of service to Scio’s schools, as well as, her work with their mentoring program. She said “it was a great honor to travel to Portland and speak to the members of the Oregon Small Schools Association not only about myself but the amazing things happening in Scio’s schools.”

Michelle is married to her husband, Eric and has 4 children, Kobe LeFeber, Ben Shown, Tyra LeFeber and Jett LeFeber.