9th-12th Grade Advanced & Molecular Biology, Anatomy, and Advanced Physiology Teacher in Westchester, PA
Westtown School
2024-25 Fellow: Leslie Barr has been teaching for 21 years. She first became interested in the Pilot Light Fellowship when Carlos C. mentioned it in his interview at Westtown, and she is looking forward to incorporating her lessons with her science curriculum during her time as a Fellow. Leslie earned her degree in Bioscience and Biotechnology from Drexel University, then started her career as a research scientist. She has always been interested in food.
Growing up, she learned how to cook from her Italian great-grandmother, Rosie, and her uncle Mark who owned a restaurant. Leslie has spent most of her adult life cooking for her family and friends hosting many dinner parties. As she transitioned to teaching, Leslie began to incorporate food into her advisory by making homemade dinners at her home for them. She also introduced a new elective, Applied Chemistry, where students can choose a recipe that is meaningful to them and learn the food chemistry behind it before preparing it for their classmates.
Favorite Food Education Standard: FES #1: Food connects us to each other.
In my family, with my friends, my students and advisory. Students choose to be in my advisory for my reputation as someone who will feed them excellent food. I love to host big dinners for special occasions and to celebrate holidays and milestones.
A Favorite Food Memory or Recipe:
I have many wonderful food memories, but the best ones are from when my mom’s mom Rosie would cook for us at the holidays. She would prepare pickled eggplant and string beans, chicken with garlic and rosemary, chicken stock with egg dumplings (called fries), homemade pasta made on the hand-cranked pasta machine with red gravy, meatballs, Italian sausage, bracciole, pork, and a huge salad that we would eat in the same bowl after we were done eating the pasta so we could mix the dressing with the gravy. Pizzelles and a ton of other cookies for dessert. YUM. We were so lucky that she did this until she was 92 years old.
What I’m Most Excited About as a New Fellow:
I am most excited to learn how to better incorporate food education in my school by connecting with other educators around the country and introducing new ideas to my school community.
