From Rock Musician to Teacher: North Carolina Educator finds Purpose, Passion in Classroom

This was Lea Strampp’s path to teaching:  

Step 1: Start a band.

Strampp’s initial goal was to be a touring musician, and she played lead guitar in an all-girl rock band for about eight years in high school and college. The group, “What,” toured the Southeast, and it was an incredible experience.  

Step 2: Work at music festivals.

Strampp ran the kids’ tent for a music venue, where she realized she had a knack for creating lessons and activities for children. 

Step 3: Follow your drummer to South Korea.

After the band broke up, the drummer went to South Korea to teach English. “She had such a wonderful time,” Strampp said, “that I immediately followed suit.” 

Strampp knew she wanted to earn her U.S. teaching certification to broaden her career prospects. She heard about Moreland University through a friend in Korea, and together, they enrolled in the TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program.

More… Moreland

Strampp graduated from TEACH-NOW in 2014. Then, as soon as Moreland opened its first master’s degree program, she jumped at the chance to join the pilot cohort. She earned her Master’s in Globalization in Education from Moreland in 2017. 

“Moreland couldn’t keep me away,” she said. “I just kept coming back and doing all the PDs and everything they would offer. Eventually, I think they got so sick of me coming and hanging out all the time, they offered me a job.” 

The timing was perfect. Strampp had moved back to the U.S. and was pregnant with her second child. She was starting a new journey as a single mom, and joining Moreland’s faculty as an instructor gave her the flexibility she needed while still allowing her to do what she loved. 

“Honestly, our life, mine and my daughters’ lives, completely turned around,” she said. “I never had to wonder how I was going to put food on the table, because I had this work-from-home job. It was awesome.”

Moreland grad and instructor Lea Strampp with one of her cohorts

Because of Moreland’s global cohort model, Strampp works with teaching candidates from all over the world. One of her favorite parts of the job is learning from her students’ different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. 

She gets to see “the whole gamut of human existence,” she said, “the teaching perspective from the lens of teachers from all over the world.” 

And while there are plenty of differences in how various cultures and communities approach education, Strampp has also found some universal truths: Students everywhere benefit from routine. Students everywhere seem to enjoy the gamification of learning. And students everywhere, no matter the age, no matter the school, no matter the state or country, need strong relationships with their teachers.  

“The more you build relationships with your learners anywhere in the world,” she said, “the more they feel safe in their learning environment and can learn.” 

Lea Strampp with her students 

‘I Feel Really Lucky’

Today, in addition to her work as a Moreland instructor, Strampp is an English as a Second Language department head for a K-12 school in North Carolina. She oversees about 100 ESL students from ages 5-18, making sure they get the support and resources they need. She’s been with that ESL program since its infancy, and one of her goals as an educator is to grow it to the point where she knows it will continue even after she’s gone. 

Another career goal is to simply continue her work with Moreland. Strampp loves teaching, and helping other educators grow their careers multiplies her impact over and over.  

Growing up, when she dreamed of her career, this is not what Strampp imagined. There’s no tour bus or record deal. But actually, she is using a lot of the same skills she used as a musician, she said. Instead of writing songs, she’s writing lesson plans. Instead of performing on a stage, she’s sharing content with her learners. Instead of crowd participation, she gauges student participation. 

“Teaching is extremely rewarding,” she said. “You build these relationships with learners, and you see them grow. Every day, I go into work, and I get to see a student learn to read or overcome a skill that was really hard for them. And it’s just amazing. I feel really lucky to get to be a part of students’ growth.”

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