Lara White after only two years with Hall as a social studies teacher has made her presence evident, but how did she get here? From the Ivory Coast to Sweden, from the Vermont Mountains to New York skyscrapers, her past has criss-crossed over continents. So how did she end up filling a gap in the West Hartford community? A look into her diverse life experience can shed some light on Hall’s black and white woman.

Her current position behind a desk in school as a psychology, history, and anthropology teacher reveals very little about the career Ms. White has led. She graduated from a private high school(Hamden Hall Country Day), which she felt gave her “…the education level of a sophomore in college.”

From there, without the proper funds for college, Ms. White sought out an opportunity in one of three locations she has worked, the Center for British Art. There she was able to travel abroad to Germany and work on an archaeological castle dig-site for four months. To describe the experience in her own words she recalled “…ya know being on a dig, you work 10 hours in the mud. I was buff.”

After, overseas endeavors continued, as Ms. White backpacked through Europe and into North Africa, despite only leaving the Northeast continent once prior on a school trip. During this venture, one night in Ghana, Ms. White found herself being interrogated by local militia, and actually taken into a vehicle at gunpoint! However, after reviewing her passport information and extorting money for a hotel room, a frazzled Ms. White and her friend safely found respite in a shady roadside motel.

Ending her eccentric adventures at the age of 24 Ms. White began college at New York University and worked as a scholastic sales rep, where she read as many books as she sold. From there, her professor, Jill Shapiro, encouraged her to apply for the anthropology program at Columbia University. Surprised to be accepted, Ms. White began at Columbia working full time and studying for two classes, which she quickly realized was unsustainable. “I could get away with a lot at NYU, intellectually, and I couldn’t do that at Columbia. I loved that about Columbia. I love the fact Columbia kicked my butt.”

Ms. White graduated in three years with a major in history and a minor in anthropology, and one week before 9/11 moved to Vermont to begin work with the Rainforest Alliance, a nonprofit organization certifying and promoting clean forestry acts. Once the program lost funding, Ms. White finally began her teaching journey and took a one year masters of education program at University of Vermont.

With her degree in teaching, Ms. White set out to work at a multitude of middle and high schools. For the first time she was forced to walk into a practically empty classroom, and craft a class and a curriculum from scratch. Despite some trouble at first controlling classes, Ms. White loved the freedom she had. Three years into teaching in Vermont Ms. white gave birth to her son, Primo, and took a year off.

For a change of scenery and a bit of a more culturally diverse school for her son, Ms. White moved back to Connecticut where she was a long term substitute in Farmington. Soon after he became a teacher and part of the startup committee that began the Capitol Region Education Council(CREC). CREC helps to educate underprivileged children to this day. While talking about her time there, Ms. White said it “Taught me how vital it is that kids are authentically cared about and loved”. Finally, Her journey ends and after a few years she is hired at Hall High School as a social studies teacher.

According to Dr. Chad Ellis, Ms. White passed the paper screening test and was called in for an interview to assess individualism. “Her energy, commitment, and enthusiasm for learning really stuck out” he said, pausing before adding with a laugh “ She has a very large personality, we could tell she knew how to get kids excited.”

In a world of boring history classes, who knew the real history was behind the black and white teacher?