There are many new staff members here at Emerson Jr. Sr. High School for the 2024-2025 school year. One of them is Mr. Lechman, the new Industrial Arts teacher.

While Mr. Lechman is a new faculty member here, he is not new to the Emerson School District. In fact, he has been teaching in the district for 20 years prior to coming to the high school.

Mr. Lechman started off at Villano Elementary School in 2004 as a 6th grade math teacher, until he moved to 6th grade science shortly after. He remained at Villano for eight years. Then, in 2013, Lechman moved over to Memorial Elementary School where he taught kindergarten for eleven years. Finally, we get to the present day where in 2024 Mr. Lechman has moved to the Jr. Sr. High School to teach Industrial Arts.

Lechman says his original plan was not to teach. His plan was to go to college for accounting, until he decided he wanted to work with people, so he began taking classes in Education. With guidance from some family members who are also teachers, he made the decision to start teaching. He says, “I started taking classes for teaching, and I figured out that I loved it. Everything was going smooth and before [I knew] it, I was graduating with a teaching degree”.

Not only is Mr. Lechman a well-rounded, versatile teacher, he is also a bus driver! Lechman makes sure the Emerson athletic teams get to their sporting events safely and on time.

Outside of school, Mr. Lechman does a lot of fishing. In fact, he runs his own personal fishing company on the side called Kris Fish! On top of that, he also runs the Emerson High School Fishing Club.

It is safe to say that Mr. Lechman is such a huge part of the Emerson Community, and our district is lucky to have him.